Beyond the traditional trade talks between the U.S. Trade Representative and envoy with Beijing, there are complicating factors that enter into the debates and it is generally dealing with military aggression and espionage. So consider the following items:
1. New Delhi: China has recently leased vast tracts of land along the coast of the Koh Kong province of Cambodia to turn into a seaside resort. An area of 45,000 hectares — 20 percent of the coastline — has been leased for 40 years for a paltry annual rent of US $1 million. A Chinese private company called Union Development Group (UDG) is undertaking the project, named the Dara Sakor Seashore Resort Long Term Project.
However, there has also been increased military cooperation between Beijing and Phnom Penh, and the US has raised concerns, with Vice-President Mike Pence writing to Cambodian PM Hun Sen that these facilities could be put to military use.
Paul Chambers, professor of international affairs at the Naresuan University in Thailand, has claimed that senior Cambodian officials privately admitted that Hun Sen was considering approving a Chinese naval base at Kiri Sakor.
Hun Sen has claimed there are no foreign troops on Cambodian soil, but China has been accused of using debt traps to get its way. And according to satellite imagery accessed by ThePrint, there is a real possibility of the resort project currently under construction turning into a Chinese military base.
2. BRUSSELS (Reuters) – China’s ZTE opened a cybersecurity lab in Brussels on Wednesday, aiming to boost transparency four months after bigger telecoms equipment rival Huawei [HWT.UL] did the same to allay concerns about spying. Chinese vendors of network gear are being scrutinized by the United States and some of its allies who believe the equipment could be used by Beijing to spy on customers if deployed in 5G networks, which are beginning to be built around the world. Huawei, the world’s biggest maker of telecoms network gear, has been blacklisted by the U.S. government, meaning that U.S. companies need special approval – which they are unlikely to get – to export products to the Chinese company.
Read the full story from NoisyRoom.net
Want more BFT? Leave us a voicemail on our page or follow us on Twitter @BFT_Podcast and Facebook @BluntForceTruthPodcast. We want to hear from you! There’s no better place to get the #BluntForceTruth.
