Countering Chinese Multidomain War

 

China chases US & Russia guided-missile sub capabilities with new vessels

 

Reuters revealed in May 2022 that satellite images from Huludao shipyard in northeast China showed a new or upgraded class of submarine, possibly with vertical tubes for launching cruise missiles.

China sacks missing defence chief Li Shangfu with no explanation

US-sanctioned general’s fall follows weeks of speculation over his absence from public view since August

State television also reported that Li and former foreign minister Qin Gang have been removed as state councillors

William Zheng Jane Cai Jack Lau.

China’s ex-foreign minister Qin Gang stripped of last remaining state title
Qin is no longer state councillor, the Standing Committee of China’s top legislative body has announced, without offering details
Move is a fresh blow for once-rising political star who has not been seen in public for four months.

Denmark has been 'naive' on China and now seeks to 'de-risk,' PM says
Mette Frederiksen says she aims to strengthen partnerships with nations like Japan
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said her country plans to strengthen partnerships with countries like Japan as it seeks to "de-risk" its relations with China.
"We have been too naive when it comes to being too dependent [on China]," Frederiksen told Nikkei Asia in an exclusive interview in Tokyo on Tuesday. "We have to be really aware of what's going on, and I would like Europe to produce more needed technology on our own ground."

 

China-Australia thaw reveals limits of Beijing's economic coercion
Ahead of Albanese's first China visit, relaxation of punitive trade measures proves Xi will not sacrifice economy for politics
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will travel to Beijing on November 4, a trip that in any ordinary year would attract little notice outside of the two countries.
But these are no ordinary times, and Albanese's visit will be on the radar of many capitals, not least Washington and Tokyo, which track intently the interactions of their allies and partners with Beijing.

 

The Australian city key to US plan to counter China

The Australian government has announced it's moving hundreds more troops to Darwin and other northern cities, and it has also promised a large chunk of its new defence budget will go towards fortifying the region.
While the US has historically focussed on Guam, Hawaii or Okinawa, it too is now pouring money into Australia.
It already operates year-round at the Pine Gap spy base outside Alice Springs in central Australia, and has since 2011 been sending annual rotations of US Marines - this year some 2,500 of them - to the Northern Territory (NT), where Darwin is located.
But in recent years it has promised about $2bn for base upgrades and new facilities. In Darwin, that includes a mission planning and operations centre and 11 jet fuel storage tanks. A couple of hours south - at the Tindal air base - storage hangers for nuclear-capable bomber planes and a huge ammunition bunker will be built.

 

Sunak draws up plans for more arrests at ‘jihad’ pro-Palestinian rallies
No 10 will ‘clarify’ guidance to police after criticism. Rishi Sunak has declared that chants of “jihad” at protests were a threat to British democracy as plans were drawn up to make sure extremists are arrested at future rallies.
The prime minister said that the government would “clarify” guidance given to police after Scotland Yard faced criticism for declining to arrest protesters at a pro-Palestinian demonstration on Saturday.
He insisted that police officers already have the power to arrest those who incite violence or racial hatred and said these should be used to detain people who called for “jihad” against Israel at the rally.

 

UK Navy to replace Chinese servants for security reasons
Officials fear threats to families in China could force laundrymen to reveal secrets

The Royal Navy is ending its century-old tradition of having Chinese servants on warships amid fears that they could be forced to spy for Beijing.
Hundreds of Chinese laundrymen have worked on Britain’s warships since the 1930s, with most hired from Hong Kong to wash and press sailor’s uniforms and officers’ white tablecloths.
Nepalese Gurkhas will replace them due to fears that Beijing could threaten the servants’ families in China to make those on board ships pass on Royal Navy secrets, The Sun has reported.

The Corporate Retreat From Hong Kong Is Accelerating
The commercial hub’s ties to mainland China, which global companies once considered an asset, have become a liability

International companies began trickling out of Hong Kong a few years back, uneasy about the financial hub’s tightening ties to mainland China. That first smattering of departures is now turning into a broad retreat involving banks, investment firms and technology companies.
The number of U.S. companies operating in the city has fallen for four years in a row, by Hong Kong’s count, hitting 1,258 in June 2022, the fewest since 2004. Last year, mainland Chinese companies with regional headquarters in Hong Kong outnumbered American ones for the first time in at least three decades.

 

The Enemies of Freedom Are Deadlier Than Ever-Western liberal ideas aren’t guaranteed to prevail, and comforting myths breed complacency.

Central to the West’s idea of its modern historic supremacy has been the comforting myth that we have prevailed because of the superiority of our ideas.
Might in the end can’t overcome right, we think. The brute force of tyranny and totalitarian terror can succeed for a while—even a long while—but eventually, the human yearning for freedom and justice has an inescapable logic. It is not so much that right will always overcome might, as that being “right” confers on us a power that is mightier than any dictator could ever muster.