China Caucus Newsletter
January 2008

Judiciary Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Espionage

This week, the Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security Judiciary Subcommittee, chaired by Congressman Bobby Scott, held a hearing on the issue of espionage and cyber-crime.  The hearing came in response to a letter recently sent to Rep. Scott by Rep. Randy Forbes, Chairman of the Congressional China Caucus. In the letter, Rep. Forbes requested the hearing to investigate the extent to which espionage and cyber-attacks threaten the security of the United States and what legislation may be useful to aid law enforcement activities in this area.  

It was noted in the hearing that Chinese espionage in the United States, which now comprises the single greatest threat to U.S. technology, is straining the U.S. counterintelligence establishment. Chinese espionage activities in the United States are so extensive that they comprise the single greatest risk to the security of American technologies. In recent years, this has become such a problem in the United States that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have rated China’s espionage and industrial theft activities as the leading threat to the security of U.S. technology.

Witnesses at the hearing included:

Hon. J. Patrick Rowan
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, National Security Division,
United States Department of Justice

David G. Major
President
The Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies

Larry M. Wortzel Ph.D.
Chairman
United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission

Click here to read an article in the Washington Times on the Judiciary Espionage hearing.

Photo: Rep. Scott and Rep. Forbes at the Espionage Hearing on Tuesday.

CSIS Event to Check Up on Pollution and the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing

There are less than seven months until the 2008 Olympic Games in China, and there has been widespread and increasing concern over Beijing's variable air quality leading up to the Beijing Games. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) will host an event on February 6, 2008 titled "Health Checkup for Beijing: Pollution and the Olympics" to address these environmental concerns surrounding the preparation for the Beijing Games. The event is co-hosted by the Congressional China Caucus. A keynote speech will be delivered by The Honorable James L. Connaughton, Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.  Other commentators will include:

Randall L. Wilber, Senior Sport Physiologist, United States Olympic Committee

Howard M. Krawitz, Political Advisor to the Chief of Staff, United States Army, and
former Minister-Counselor for Olympic Affairs, U.S. Embassy in Beijing

Jennifer L. Turner, Director, China Environment Forum, Woodrow Wilson Center

The event will be held Wednesday, February 6, 2007 from  2:00-4:00 p.m. in room 2226 of the Rayburn House Office Building. Please contact Savina Rupani at srupani@csis.org or (202) 457-8719 if you have any questions about the event.

China Caucus Events

Meeting with Admiral Keating of the Pacific Command

Monday, January 28, 2008

Congressman Forbes, Chairman of the Congressional China Caucus, met with Admiral Keating, head of the United States Pacific Command on Monday, January 28th. Admiral Keating made his second trip to China in January 2008 since he assumed command of PACOM. Rep. Forbes and Admiral Keating discussed the challenges and opportunities presented by China, including China’s recent refusal to allow a normal port call by the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk and its escort vessels prior to the Thanksgiving holiday in 2007. To read a statement by Congressman Forbes on this incident, click here.

Other China Events

Hearing: The Implications of Sovereign Wealth Fund Investments for National Security
Thursday, February 7, 2008

562 Dirksen Senate Office Building
8:30 am. – 5 p.m.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission will conduct a public hearing on Thursday, February 7, 2008 on “The Implications of Sovereign Wealth Fund Investments for  National Security.” The hearing is being conducted to obtain testimony about how China is using its Sovereign Wealth Fund and, more particularly, how its use by China to make investments in the United States may affect U.S. economic and national security. The Commission will hear from experts on the topic.  Senators and Representatives and Administration officials also have been invited to testify.

China's "New Village" Strategy-- Actual Progress and National Impact

Thursday, January 31, 2008

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace hosted a briefing on China's "New Village" Strategy and focused on the actual progress and national impact of the strategy. The event was held at the Carnegie Endowment, 1779 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036. For more information, visit their website.

Briefing: China and Climate Change

January 31, 2008

441 Cannon House Office Building

1 p.m. - 2 p.m

The briefing on China and climate change was hosted by the Select committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. For more information on the event, visit the Select committee's website.
 

China In The News

U.S. Admiral, Chinese Discuss Port Calls
Washington Post
January 15, 2008
In high-level meetings this week, Chinese officials did not give the head of the U.S. Pacific Command, Adm. Timothy J. Keating, any reason for rejecting a routine port call in Hong Kong by a U.S. aircraft carrier in November. But Keating said Tuesday that a request for a visit in several weeks received "favorable consideration." Click here to read more.

Despite Victory, Taiwanese Party Urges Caution
Washington Post
January 14, 2008
As word spread of their landslide victory in Taiwan's legislative elections, flag-waving Nationalist party stalwarts filled the lobby of their headquarters Saturday evening with shouts of joy, partisan chants and patriotic songs. Click here to read more.

Reconsidering Revaluation: The wrong approach to the U.S-Chinese Trade Imbalance
Foreign Affairs
January/February 2008
China's economy has grown dramatically in the last decade: it is more than twice as large as it was ten years ago. This spectacular rise means that Beijing can influence the global economy today in ways that would have been unimaginable in the 1990s -- a development that has led to widespread concerns in the United States. Many officials in Washington and small U.S. manufacturing companies allege that Beijing has deliberately undervalued its currency and manipulated markets in order to promote the growth of its exports. Click here to read more.

China's Air Force Modernization
NDU Press
4th Quarter, 2007
The People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) is in the midst of a modernization campaign aimed at retiring and replacing obsolete aircraft designed in the 1950s and 1960s. While modernization has been under way in earnest for the past 15 years, China's Air Force is still in a transition phase, caught in the middle ground between the type of force that the PLAAF fielded over its first 50 years and the development of a new Air Force with modern equipment, doctrine, and capabilities. Click here to read more.

Olympian Ambitions
Newsweek
January 7, 2008
All Olympic gold shines brilliantly, though not all equally so. Of China's 32 gold medals at the 2004 Athens Games, none was as lustrous as 20-year-old Liu Xiang's in the 110-meter hurdles, the first-ever gold for a Chinese man in Olympic track-and-field competition. Click here to read more.

Mao to Now
Newsweek
January 7, 2008
My eldest brother was 7 years old when the Communists seized power in China. Our parents, who named him Guangyuan—"Distant Light"—had entrusted him to relatives in Suzhou while they visited America in the 1940s. Papa and Mama expected to be gone only long enough to complete their university degrees, and they didn't want to uproot him. Perhaps they also didn't fully appreciate what was happening to their homeland. Then Mao Zedong marched into Beijing in October 1949, and the world changed. Returning to China became too dangerous. Click here to read more.

The Challenge to Beijingoism
Economist
December 26, 2007
Inreadiness for the Olympic games, Beijing is putting the finishing touches to a colossal makeover: the world’s biggest airport terminal, skyscrapers, subway lines and lavish stadiums. It is guaranteed to impress the world. But the leadership is nervous. The games will be a magnet for China’s critics. At a time of growing unease around the world about everything from the safety of China’s products to its policies in Africa, there are plenty of them. Click here to read more.

U.S. Gains More Access to Data On Chinese Exports
Washington Post
December 12, 2007
Chinese officials on Tuesday agreed to implement a detailed experimental tracking and data-sharing program for a limited number of foods, drugs, and medical devices bound for the United States. U.S. officials hailed the agreement as a breakthrough, but independent food safety experts said they are skeptical about China's ability to impose such a system on its diffuse farm and chemical industries. Click here to read more.

China Said to Block U.S. Films
The New York Times
December 11, 2007
China has stopped granting permission for American films to be shown in its cinemas in an apparent trade dispute with the United States, according to several Hollywood executives and United States government officials. Click here to read more.

Possible J-10 sale to Tehran raises red flags
Janes Defence
October 31, 2007
Iran, China and Russia may have reached agreement for the supply of Chengdu J-10 advanced combat aircraft to Iran, according to Russian media reports. The Russian business daily Kommersant published the story on 23 October but it was picked up and translated into English by the state-controlled Novosti news agency the following day. Click here to read more.

To read more news clips on China, click here.

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