Ausmin 2011

choi

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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")

(6) 逾七成中国人认为目前物价过高. BBC Chinese, Sept 16, 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/chinese_news/2011/09/110916_china_prices.shtml
(72%的中国人认为目前物价过高, “难以接受”; 中国央行在中国50个城市进行的2万户城镇储户问卷调查)

(7) 美、澳外长认为缅甸在变化. VOA Chinese, Sept 16, 2011
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/news/20110916-Australia-Burma-US-129945898.html
("缅甸政府最近几个星期对反对派似乎伸出橄榄枝")

(8) 台湾付清了外债. VOA Chinese, Sept 16, 2011.
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/news/20110916-Taiwan-Paid-off-Debt-129945338.html

Quote:

"台湾的内债虽然还很多

"台湾政治大学金融学教授殷乃平指出，中国国民政府在抗日战争的时候发行过很多债券。到了台湾后，经济规模小了， 无法承受如此大的债务，于是对这些债券停止支付，所以后来台湾不再对外发行债券。殷乃平说：'现在台湾所谓的外债的偿付，就是说，到了台湾以后，透过国际金融机构所举借的外债，这部分外债全部还清了。'

"世界上没有外债的国家和地区有文莱、蒙古、巴布亚新几内亚等十几个，其中也有中国的澳门。

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)

(11) 美议员提“台湾政策法案”加强美台关系. VOA Chinese, Sept 15, 2011
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/news/20110915-congress-policy-129916958.html
(美国众议院外交委员会主席 Ileana Ros-Lehtinen 说: "这个法案，旨在加强并进一步阐明台湾关系法，它要求美国尽快提供台湾新一代F-16战机")

(12) 蔡英文：民进党已做好执政准备. VOA Chinese, Sept 15, 2011
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/news/20110915-tsai-ing-wen-dpp-rule-again-129917933.html
(蔡英文9月14号星期三晚间在马里兰州的蒙哥马利学院文化艺术中心举办“国政说明会”)

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


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