America's Future Update on China

Update on National Security

Communist China recently tested a new submarine-launched missile called the Julang or Great Wave, which has a range of 5,000 miles. It is soon to be deployed on submarines and can be outfitted with multiple warheads (MIRVs), "thanks in part to the theft of secret U.S. technology," according to John Lenczowski, former National Security Council director and founder of the Institute for World Politics. He reminds us that China "is racing harder than ever to establish its place as a dominant nuclear power." This range would allow the Chinese to hit any popu-lation center or military facility in the U.S. from international waters. Washington Times, 2/13/02

A CIA report titled "Foreign Missile Developments" states that China is expected to have 75 to 100 long-range nuclear missiles pointed at the U.S by 2015, quadruple the current number. Many will be on mobile launchers, helping China to maintain a nuclear deterrent against the larger U.S. missile force. Associated Press, 1-9-02

Words to remember: "I am firmly convinced that we need to focus all elements of U.S. power and diplomacy on ensuring that China does not become the 21st-century version of the Soviet bear," said Gen. Henry H. Shelton, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a speech to the National Press Club. Washington Times, 12-18-00

Update on Free Trade

A U.S. satellite maker accused of providing missile technology to China, Loral Space & Communications, settled with the U.S. government and will pay a $14 million fine to the State Department. Loral’s technology allowed China to increase the reliability of its space-launch boosters, which U.S. intelligence officials said are identical to the boosters used in its long-range nuclear missiles and are built by the same state-run firm. A classified Pentagon report concluded in 1998 that the technology likely gave China a "significant" boost in its long-range missiles, with over a dozen targeted at U.S. cities. Washington Times, 1-14-02

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said the Bush Ad-ministration does not believe China will honor all the commitments it made to join the World Trade Organization. He told the U.S.-China Business Council, "One would be naive to think that commitments negotiated by the Trade Ministry . . . will be implemented automatically and then enforced," He cited China’s dubious commitment to "openness, free markets, transparency and competition." Washington Times, 2-4-02

China’s military is secretly buying U.S. commercial satellite photographs of Taiwan that U.S. intelligence officials say will be used to target Taiwan with a growing arsenal of cruise and ballistic missiles. Washington Times, 2-7-02

Update on Human Rights

What has been China’s policy for many years was made official on Jan. 1 when China’s legislature adopted a law that restricts the number of children couples can have to one for city residents and two for rural workers if their first child is a girl. The government acknowledged that this policy has led to infanticide, forced abortions and selective abortion of female fetuses. The abuses have led to a ratio of 117 boys born to every 100 girls in China. The law also prohibits the use of ultrasound technology to determine the gender of the fetus. Washington Times, 1-7-02

New demonstrations in Tiananmen Square resulted in the Chinese government arresting more than 40 Westerners who are foreign supporters of the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement. China has carried on a brutal campaign against the group, calling it an "evil cult" and sending thousands of believers to "reeducation through labor" camps without trial. More than 100 have died in police custody. New York Times, 2-15-02

Local officials use commitment to mental hospitals to silence people who press the government to address their grievances. Huang Shurong has been forcibly committed to psychiatric hospitals five times in the last three years because she complained that local officials redistributing farmland took her best cornfield and took the best land for themselves. New York Times, 2-16-02