China Newspaper Refers to New Jet

BEIJING—A Chinese newspaper published the first state media report Wednesday about pictures circulating online that appear to show a prototype of China's first stealth fighter jet making high-speed taxi tests.

The English-language report in the Global Times didn't confirm the existence of the prototype, or the authenticity of the photographs. It quoted one Chinese defense analyst playing up its significance, and another dismissing concerns over China's military buildup.

The Wall Street Journal reported in a Page One article Wednesday that the first clear pictures of what appeared to be a Chinese stealth fighter prototype had been published on unofficial defense-related web sites. Military aviation experts said the fighter—known as the J-20—appeared to be conducting high-speed taxi tests, which are usually the final stage before a test flight.

"If the development of the J-20 is true, it will be another reflection of China's fast industrial advancement, which has already been highlighted by high-speed railways and space exploration," the Global Times quoted Song Xiaojun, a Beijing-based military expert, as saying. "Besides the global military impact, the rumored J-20 also bears political significance because it represents China's growing power."

The Global Times quoted Li Daguang, a military expert at China's National Defense University, dismissing as "speculation" reports that China was developing a stealth fighter to rival the U.S. F-22—the only fully deployed stealth fighter in the world today. "The F-22 is an offensive weapon that fits Washington's global strategy. China's defense development is self-defensive in nature and does not require a fighter jet of that caliber," Mr. Li said.

Several unofficial defense-related websites published grainy mobile-phone video footage that they said showed the J-20 speeding along a runway and deploying parachutes from its rear. The video was shot through a fence at some distance, but magnified still images appeared to show the aircraft with its nosewheel clearly off the ground and its parachutes deployed.

Separately, in Washington, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Wednesday that President Barack Obama will press Chinese President Hu Jintao on Beijing's policies on currency and human rights when the two meet at the White House in two weeks. Mr. Gibbs, appearing hours after confirming he will step down next month, said the U.S. believes China must take steps to allow its currency, the yuan, to continue to appreciate. "China plays an enormously important role in our global economy, and China has to take steps to rebalance its currency," he said.

Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Jiang Yaoping said in Beijing on Wednesday that yuan appreciation won't resolve the U.S.'s trade imbalance with China, as the exchange rate has little effect on the major cause of China's trade surplus: the import of materials used in goods that are then exported.

The comment came a day after Mr. Obama joined a high-level meeting between National Security Adviser Tom Donilon and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in which the U.S. officials stressed the need for the two economic powers to reduce their trade imbalances.

The Jan. 19 meeting between Messrs. Hu and Obama is seen as key to maintaining the relationship between the two countries at a time of some tension over trade and human-rights issues. Mr. Gibbs said human rights, currency, and simmering tensions on the Korean peninsula are all anticipated to be on the agenda when Mr. Hu visits the White House.

China's trade surplus is a result of globalization, not global economic imbalances, Mr. Jiang said, adding that global companies in industries such as electronics that conduct processing trade in China benefit from the trade surplus. Processing trade refers to the import of duty-free materials that are strictly for re-export in finished goods.

A Ministry of Commerce official said China's 2010 trade surplus will be slightly above $190 billion. The yuan has risen 3.2% against the dollar since June 19, when China pledged to increase exchange-rate flexibility, effectively ending a two-year-long peg to the dollar.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/05/chinese-j20-stealth-fighter-image-military-power

Nobel Peace Prize win gives some Chinese hope

Pro-democracy lawmakers Emily Lau, second from left, Lee Cheuk Yan, center, and Albert Ho, second from right, show their support for Liu Xiaobo on Wednesday in Hong Kong.

BEIJING — Chinese democracy activists say the Communist Party's campaign to discredit the Nobel Peace Prize award to a Chinese dissident is proving to the world why Liu Xiaobo deserves the accolade.

Beijing's efforts to stop nations from attending Friday's award ceremony are "stupid and harm China's image," Beijing legal scholar Xu Zhiyong said Wednesday.

"The Chinese people have won a prize," said Xu, a supporter of Liu. "Over the long term, this Nobel will push freedom and democracy in China."

Liu, 54, is serving an 11-year sentence for inciting subversion of state power. His crime was to be a founder of Charter 08, a statement that says it is wrong for a government to deny its citizens election of public officials and freedom of religion and expression. Liu was convicted Christmas Day 2009 after a two-hour trial.

In awarding him the peace prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said Liu was being recognized for "his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China" despite severe punishment for doing so against him and his family.

China will not allow Liu or any of his family members to leave the country to accept the prize and its $1.4 million award in Oslo. His wife, Liu Xia, has been under house arrest since the award was announced Oct. 8.

The Nobel Committee will only present the award to the laureate or close family members. In 1975, 1983 and 1991, family members collected the Nobel for winning Soviet, Polish and Burmese dissidents. Beijing's clampdown means this year's could be the first ceremony to lack a presentation since 1935, when Nazi Germany barred the pacifist Carl von Ossietzky from attending.

Other no-shows include envoys from 18 nations who appear to have bowed to Beijing's vigorous campaign for a boycott of the ceremony. Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu claimed a "large majority" of nations would skip the event.

The Nobel Committee says at least 44 nations would attend.

Those boycotting include Russia, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Serbia, Iraq, Iran, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Venezuela, the Philippines, Egypt, Sudan, Ukraine, Cuba and Morocco.

Some of the boycotters share China's intolerance of dissent, but all have growing economic ties with China that some say they are afraid to jeopardize.

"China has been arm-twisting behind the scenes to stop governments from attending the Nobel Prize ceremony, using a combination of political pressure and economic blackmail," Sam Zarifi, Asia-Pacific director for human rights group Amnesty International, said Tuesday.

The Philippines is a democracy, but Manila is nervous of angering Beijing, says Ellen Palanca, China studies director at Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City.

"The economic relationship with China is increasingly important to the Philippines," she said. Following the deaths of eight Hong Kong tourists during a botched hostage rescue in August, "the Philippines has to do more to show that it is a friend of China. The hostage crisis did a lot of damage."

A long-time U.S. ally and military aid recipient, the Philippines is also pursuing closer military links with China. This week, its armed forces chief of staff is visiting China to build goodwill, the Manila Standard Today newspaper reported.

China has also invented its own peace prize that it intends to award today. The Confucius Peace Prize will be awarded by a group with links to China's Ministry of Culture.

Meanwhile, Beijing has kept up its barrage of outrage at Liu's award.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang, whose office has called the Nobel prize an "obscenity" for honoring a convicted criminal, promised that China would not change because of "interference by a few clowns."

China's reaction shows why the Nobel should be awarded to Liu, human rights activists say.

For example, none of the travel restrictions placed on Liu's family are legal under Chinese laws, said Wang Songlian, research coordinator for the rights group China Human Rights Defenders.

"The government is making a fool of itself by showing the international community that all its talk about legal reform and human rights is merely talk — in practice they do not respect the law," she said.

The crackdown also reflects the government's response to a wider "yearning for justice and equality in China," Wang said. Although most Chinese have not heard of Liu, many people are restless and hungry for the moral ideals he represents, she said.

"At the moment they have no outlet, but the government fears that if the people get to hear about the ideals put forward by Liu and other dissidents, it could mean the end of the dictatorship," Wang said.

"That's why the government is very afraid of Liu Xiaobo."


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http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-12-09-chinanobel09_ST_N.htm