Beijing again flexes military muscle, sending fighter jets, bombers around Taiwan

Island’s air force says it deployed F-16s to monitor latest military manoeuvres.

Beijing on Friday conducted encirclement drills around Taiwan with its new Su-35 fighter jets as it again flexed its military muscle amid tensions with the self-ruled island.

The “innovative joint operation” involved two theatre commands and the aircraft flew in opposite directions around the island, PLA air force spokesman Senior Colonel Shen Jinke said.

The Sukhoi Su-35 fighters flew with H-6K strategic bombers across the Bashi Channel between Taiwan and the northern islands of the Philippines, Shen said at an airport in southern China.

Other bombers, along with J-11 fighters and KJ-200 early warning aircraft, flew over the Miyako Strait between Taiwan and Japan, he said.

They then flew over the east coast of Taiwan to the western Pacific for exercises that involved early warning systems, detection and assaults, according to Shen.

“Our squadron for these Western Pacific and Taiwan missions will involve more and more new types of aircraft,” the air force spokesman said.

Taiwan’s air force command headquarters said it had deployed F-16 fighter jets to monitor the mainland’s military activities and that the island was fully aware of the drills and would take measures to protect the safety of its people.

The PLA air force said it was the first time the Su-35 fighter jets had flown over the Bashi Channel since they entered service in April.

China has ordered 24 of the Russian-made fighter jets – an upgrade to the Su-27 – and had taken delivery of 14 by the end of last year. They can be equipped with long-range air-to-air missiles that could be used to attack American aerial refuelling tankers in the Pacific.

Friday’s air force drills were the latest in a series of People’s Liberation Army operations targeting the island, including a live-fire exercise in the Taiwan Strait last month, following pro-Taiwan gestures from the US as the trade row between Beijing and Washington escalates.

There have also been regular strategic bomber flights close the island in recent months, as some Taiwanese leaders showed a more pro-independence stance. Beijing sees self-ruled Taiwan as a wayward province to be brought under mainland Chinese rule, by force if necessary.

The PLA air force indicated the military manoeuvres near the island would continue.

“We will follow an existing plan and continue to hold multi-aircraft patrols over Taiwan,” Shen said.

It was not known whether China’s most advanced stealth fighter, the home-grown J-20, was part of the Taiwan mission. But on Wednesday the air force said the stealth fighter had conducted sea training for the first time, without saying where or when it took place.

Beijing is also annoyed by Washington’s growing support for Taiwan. The latest example came on Thursday, when the island held the first Taiwan-US Defence Business Forum.

Co-hosted by the US-Taiwan Business Council and the Taiwan Defence Industry Development Association, the forum brought together companies from Taiwan and the US to discuss opportunities for bilateral cooperation in the defence industry, including shipbuilding, cybersecurity and aerospace industries. International weapons systems suppliers such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Cubic and BAE Systems attended the forum.

In his opening remarks, Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the business council, said Taiwan already had strong experience in the global technology supply chain, so “there is no reason that Taiwan should not enjoy considerable success” in the global defence supply chain.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2145803/beijing-again-flexes-military-muscle-sending-fighter

>>1374191

Yes and I forgot to add that to this post:(

>>1374195

It is and quite beautiful too:) Hopefully it can be restored to its true position.

>>1374159

>>1374234

All part of the plan!!, This is probably why POTUS is so quiet today.

Chinese billionaire Ng Lap-seng gets four years in US prison for bribing UN officials US$1.7m to support plans for Macau conference centre

A Chinese billionaire convicted of bribing United Nations officials US$1.7 million as part of a scheme to build a UN conference centre in Macau has been sentenced to four years in a US prison.

Ng Lap-seng, 69, was sentenced on Friday in a New York federal court, but isn’t reporting to prison immediately. He has been under 24-hour guard at a Manhattan apartment on US$50 million bail.

He was convicted in July of paying over US$1.7 million in bribes to two ambassadors, in exchange for them supporting his scheme to build the Macau centre.

Prosecutors had previously asked for a six-year prison term and US$2 million in fines.

In a March 30 filing, they said Ng hoped the conference centre, which was never built, would pave the way for luxury housing, hotels, a shopping centre, marinas and a heliport, turning Macau into the “Geneva of Asia” and winning himself fame and greater riches.

“The defendant, a sophisticated, international businessman, repeatedly used his wealth and power to seek to corrupt decision-making at the United Nations,” prosecutors said.

“That was a choice. It warrants substantial and meaningful punishment.”

Defence lawyers said Ng paid money only when asked to spend it to speed the project along.

One of the UN officials named in the case, former UN General Assembly President John Ashe, pleaded not guilty in the case but died before he could stand trial after a barbell he was lifting in his home dropped on his neck.

The other, former Dominican Republic Ambassador Francis Lorenzo, pleaded guilty and testified against Ng.

Ng came under fire in August last year after it emerged that a massage therapist he’d hired to visit him in his US$4 million apartment was spending up to 10 hours a day there, treating him in a locked bedroom while he was there on bail as well as cooking meals for his armed guards.

A judge at the time confined him to the apartment, stopping him from indulging in his daily visit to a Chinatown restaurant, barred guards from eating food prepared there, and ordered them to use a wand to check for metal concealed on his visitors.

The massage therapist was allowed to continue her visits, but the judge ordered that the bedroom door should be left open.

http:// www.scmp.com/news/china/article/2145819/chinese-billionaire-ng-lap-seng-gets-four-years-prison-bribing-un

Chinese top team to land in Washington for trade talks just before US decides which products to penalise

Delegation led by Xi Jinping’s top economic adviser will arrive in America just ahead of hearing to finalise tariffs on US$50bn of Chinese products.

A top-level Chinese delegation will arrive in Washington for a second round of trade talks on Tuesday – just before the US finalises the list of Chinese products that will be hit with punitive tariffs, a source familiar with the situation has said.

China’s delegation will be led by Vice-Premier Liu He, Xi Jinping’s top economic adviser, who met a delegation from the White House in Beijing at the end of last week.

In those talks, the American officials focused on their dissatisfaction with China’s hefty state support for technological development and the long-standing trade gap between the two countries but devoted little time to the issue of improving market access for foreign companies, another source who was briefed on the talks said.

US President Donald Trump has frequently highlighted America’s trade deficit with China and has demanded a US$200 billion reduction.

China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday that both countries’ working teams were making preparations for the next round of dialogue.

Lower-level officials from the two countries were expected to meet on Friday to make arrangements for the Chinese visit to Washington next week.

The trip will be Liu’s second one to Washington within three months.

On his first trip in late February, he offered to buy more US products as a way of reducing trade tensions but the US showed little interest in the proposal, one of the sources said.

He is expected to repeat the offer next week, although it is not clear whether there will be substantial differences between the two proposals.

http:// www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2145799/chinese-top-team-land-washington-trade-talks-just-us