20% of Chinese farmland is toxic
Just what drives China's expansion? Well maybe it is this, with my emphasis:
Quote:
Unbridled industrialization with almost no environmental regulation has resulted in the toxic contamination of one-fifth of China's farmland, the Communist Party has acknowledged for the first time.
The report, issued by the ministries of Environmental Protection and Land and Resources, says 16.1 percent of the country's soil in general and 19.4 percent of its farmland is polluted with toxic heavy metals such as cadmium, nickel and arsenic. It was based on a soil survey of more than 2.4 million square miles of land across China, spanning a period from April 2005 until December 2013. It excluded special administrative regions Hong Kong and Macau.
In a dire assessment, the report declares: "The overall condition of the Chinese soil allows no optimism."
Link:http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/...s-contaminated
There is a link to an offocial PRC news agency report and The Guardian report.
Might this loss of productive land explain Chinese interest in overseas agricultural land purchase and of course earning foriegn exchange to enter the world food market.
Chinese Navy tries to copy Top Gun
I am sure holes will be picked in this and it is not clear if the aircraft carrier is fully operational:http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/...LCC=454764420&
Chinese Navy developments & operations
This looks like a good starting place for a dedicated thread -
The History of the Twenty-First-Century Chinese Navy
Quote:
The strategic direction of the People’s Liberation Army Navy has evolved rapidly since the end of the Cold War and China’s rise as an economic power. Yet, as Bernard Cole reminds us, the Chinese Navy being built today may owe as much to its past as to its future.
By Bernard Cole for US Naval War College
This article first appeared in the Naval War College Review (Summer 2014, Vol. 67, No. 3) published by the U.S. Naval War College.
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/Digital-Libra...g=en&id=181186
See also http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...209#post153209
Protecting China's investments and people abroad
Moderator's Note
Until 25th October 2014 this thread had the title 'Chinese infantry arrive in South Sudan', it has now been changed to 'Protecting China's investments and people abroad'. A smaller thread has been merged in (ends).
SWC has discussed China's increasing role in Africa and elsewhere, primarily as economic relationships develop into influence and power.
Now we learn via the WSJ:
Quote:
China began deploying 700 soldiers (an infantry battallion) to a United Nations peacekeeping force in South Sudan to help guard the country's embattled oil fields and protect Chinese workers and installations.....While Beijing's troops will operate under U.N. command, their posting to South Sudan marks a sharp escalation of China's efforts to ensure the safety of its workers and assets in Africa and guarantee a steady flow of energy for domestic consumption. The deployment marks the first time Beijing has contributed a battalion to a U.N. peacekeeping force, U.N. officials said.
Access maybe behind a wall:http://online.wsj.com/articles/china...ers-1410275041
A quick search found reports in June 2014 that China would deploy; I don't recall that SWC spotted that.
There are relevant threads for context:
1) UN peacekeeping:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=8209
2) South Sudan has two recent threads, the crisis in 2013:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ad.php?t=19678 and an older thread:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ad.php?t=16026
3) China's expanding role in Africa:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=2164
Somehow I doubt these Chinese soldiers will be leaving until the oil runs out or South Sudan, even the AU, demand they leave.
China contributed in August 2014 to ten UN peacekeeping missions, a total of 2,192 personnel (1,984 soldiers and 172 police), this makes them one of the mid-range contributors:http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/co...14/aug14_1.pdf
Where? Soldiers are present in formed units in six missions (three are military experts aka observers) and in formed units (military & police):
MINUSMA in Mali 389
MONUSCO in DRC 209
UNAMID in Darfur 333
UNIFIL in South Lebanon 210
UNMIL in Liberia 689
UNMISS in South Sudan 337
See:http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/co...14/aug14_3.pdf