Greg Sheridan, New Australia-US Push Deals India in to Pacific. The Australian, Sept 17, 2011 (available now).
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/new-australia-us-push-deals-india-in-to-pacific/story-e6frg76f-1226139302534
Quote:
"The author of the overwhelming majority of cyber intrusions the US and Australia experience is China, with Russia a distant second.
"Western assessments of Pyongyang are intensely pessimistic.
This emerges from two deadly judgments. The first is that China is not really helping on North Korea, and looking back, has not really helped in the past.
For the first time "Canberra is asking Washington to view the whole Indo-Pacific region as an integrated theatre of operations" rather than "Asia-Pacific" in the past.
Note:
(a) "Greg Sheridan is the foreign editor of The Australian and a right-wing commentator on foreign affairs."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Sheridan
(b) The article states, "The Lowy Institute's Rory Medcalf has just published a paper on Australia's Future between China and India."
The paper on sale:
Rory Medcalf, Asia Responds to Its Rising Powers - China and India; Strategic Asia 2011-12. Lowry Institute for International Policy. September 2011.
http://www.lowyinstitute.org/Publication.asp?pid=1697
(c) Australian American Leadership Dialogue
http://www.aald.org/index/index/page/home
(d) The article also says, "By the way, Rudd also drew attention to a statistic more Australians might like to take notice of. Two-way cumulative US/Australian investment stands at $960 billion. Two-way cumulative Chinese/Australian investment stands at $31bn."
(i) Australian merchadise trade with China: Exports to China A$58b (25.3% of total share, Rank: 1st); Imports from China A$39b (18.7% of total share, Rank: 1st)
Australia's trade in services with China: Exports of services to China A$6b; Imports of services from China A$1.7b
http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/fs/chin.pdf
(ii) Australia's merchandise trade with US: Exports to US A$9b (4% of total share, Rank: 5th); Imports from US A$25b (e) (12.1% of total share; Rank: 2nd)
Australia's trade in services with US: Exports of services to US A$5b; Imports of services from US A$9.8b.
http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/fs/usa.pdf
(iii) Australian merchandise trade with Taiwan: Total share: Exports to Taiwan A$8.4b (3.6% of total share, Rank: 6th); Imports from Taiwan A$3.6b (1.7% of total share, Rank: 14th)
http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/fs/taiw.pdf
(iv) The data from (i) to (iii) above are from Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Australia. All are for 2010. The "e" in "(e)" stands for "estimated."
------------------------------Separately
(1) Bill Gertz, Obama Agrees to Sell Arms to Taiwan; Package Will Upgrade F-16s. Washington Times, Sept 15, 2011
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/sep/15/obama-rules-out-new-f-16s-for-taiwan/
("Congress will be briefed Friday [today] on the arms package" by White House)
Quote:
"One of the assessments argued that the C/D jets were far more capable than earlier F-16s because of their strike capabilities
"Two other jets [of Taiwan's air force], the Taiwan-produced Indigenous Defensive Fighter and French-made Mirage 2000, are said by specialists to be of limited use.
(2) Paul Mozur and Jenny W Hsu, Taiwan’s New Jets May Not Fly; Reaction Mixed. China Real Time (a brand of WSJ.com), Sept 16, 2011.
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2011/09/16/taiwans-new-jets-may-not-fly-reaction-mixed/
Quote:
"Readers would be forgiven for thinking the imminent decision ends for now the debate about weapons sales to Taiwan, but in fact the F-16 C/Ds are still in the picture. As analysts in the U.S. have said time and again, a decision on F-16 A/Bs doesn’t rule out the chance that C/Ds could be sold later.
"as is characteristic of the tenuous world of Taiwan affairs, there are too many balls still up in the air to say definitively what will happen next. Nonetheless, it seems possible that the next chapter in the weapons sale saga will be dictated more by the demands and debates generated ahead of the upcoming U.S. presidential elections.
(3) Cindy Sui, Taiwan Sweats on US Arms Sales Decision. BBC, Sept 15, 2011.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14917941
Quote:
"Taiwan's air fleet currently consists of two-decade-old F-16 A/B fighters (there are few countries still flying them), French Mirage 2000-5 fighters that are also about 20 years old, and 35-year-old F5 fighters that it wants to retire soon.
"Since the 1950s, Taiwan has patrolled the region, including areas of the East China Sea and South China Sea bordering China, and shared information it collects with the US, Mr [Alexander] Yang[, a professor at Taipei's Tamkang University specialising in China-Taiwan defence issues] said, adding that this role is little known and often taken for granted.
My comment:
(a) Read only paragraphs 1 and 2, besides the above quotation.
(b) It appears even a grandmother in Taipei has an Americanized given name.
(4) 中国对印度开发南海油气计划反应激烈. BBC Chinese, Sept 16, 2011.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/chinese_news/2011/09/110916_china_india.shtml
Note:
(a) Jayanth Jacob & Reshma Patil, Beijing Says Keep off S China Sea, Delhi Unmoved. Hindustan Times, Sept 16, 2011.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Beijing-says-keep-off-S-China-Sea-Delhi-unmoved/Article1-746246.aspx
After paragraph 2, the report continues in the LEFT margin.
(b) The BBC report cites the following (latest news first):
(i) 如印执意染指南海 中国惩戒其可不止于外交. 环球时报, Sept 16, 2011.
http://firefox.huanqiu.com/mil/Observation/2011-09/2010596.html
(ii) Anupama Airy and Jayanth Jacob, China Objects to Oil hunt, India Says Back off. Hindustan Times, Sept 15, 2011.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/newdelhi/China-objects-to-oil-hunt-India-says-back-off/Article1-745854.aspx
(c) Oil and Natural Gas Corporation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_and_Natural_Gas_Corporation
(ONGC; an Indian state-owned oil and gas company; a Fortune Global 500 company)
(5) 台湾总统选举独立候选人开始登记. BBC Chinese, Sept 16, 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/chinese_news/2011/09/110916_independentcandidate_byjames.shtml
("宋楚瑜通过亲民党的台北市议员为其登记")
My comment: Obviously balance sheet of Taiwanese government, once arriving in Taiwna in 1949, has not included national debt that Republic of China incurred prior to 1949 when it was in mainland China. See next.
(9) Philip Liu, Taiwan Becomes a Foreign-Debt Free Nation. CENS, Sept 16, 2011.
http://news.cens.com/cens/html/en/news/news_inner_37777.html
("During the early stage of Taiwan’s economic development, the government borrowed heavily from abroad, such as from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, to fund major construction projects. It began to wean itself from foreign debt in 1970s, thanks to economic takeoff which generated abundant tax revenue for the government")
My comment: This quotation does not argue against the possibility that Generalissimo brought a monstrous size of gold from the mainland to Taiwan. But the possibility looks slim.
(10) Sofia Wu, Taiwan Becomes Debt-Free Country. Central News Agency, Sept 16, 2011 http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?ID=201109160048&Type=aTOD
(Taiwan "repaid the last installment of US$238,238 in debt to the International Development Association (IDA), one of the World Bank's lending arms," having borrowed $15.756 million from IDA in 1961)
Note: Established in 1946, "Montgomery College is a public, open access community college located in Montgomery County, Maryland, just outside Washington, DC." Wikipedia
(13) In chronological order.
(a) Anna Fifield, Robin Kwong and Kathrin Hille, US Concerned About Taiwan Candidate
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f926fd14-df93-11e0-845a-00144feabdc0.html
("The surprisingly blunt statement [by an unnamed "senior US offcial"] comes as the administration is about to notify Congress that it will help Taiwan retrofit its fleet of F-16 fighter jets.
My comment: I have always thought Ms Tsai is too soft on China, that she should have come out more assertive. It is no accident that ex-president Chen Shui-bian was, and is, my hero.
(b) Peter Enav, Taiwan President's Party Exploits US Official's Reported Statement on Rival's China Policies. Associated ress, Sept 16, 2011.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_TAIWAN_US?SITE=WIJAN&SECTION=EUROPE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT