Taiwan is on the rise. With chip shortages, stock is booming. You know how graphics cards are astronomically high? A lot of that money is going into Taiwan. Meanwhile, China found an excuse to order a real estate developer to… Read More ›

Military
Cadence Column: Asia, December 27, 2021
Japan is on the scene in the Pacific. While Japanese athletes will attend the Olympics, Japanese officials will not. China doesn’t want Japan to “politicize” the games. But, consider 2008, the one-hour opening ceremony about nothing but China’s history, with… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, October 25, 2021
Taiwan was thrust into a position without being asked. In 1971, the United Nations removed the Taipei-seated government known today as “Taiwan” and switched to recognizing the Beijing-based government known as “China”. The Taiwanese were elbowed out of the global… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, October 18, 2021
According to Chinese and US claims, China has a high-orbit, hypersonic missile that can hit a target within 24 miles. And, that’s why China is the new boss of the world and everyone else should hate America. The end. But,… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, October 11, 2021
Biden is creating a special center within CIA for China. Xi Jinping is irate. Biden knows China almost as well as Trump. He met with Chinese officials as Vice President. While Trump played a “good cop” routine on China, Biden… Read More ›
China’s military has an Achilles’ heel: Low troop morale
The Chinese Communist Party has unintentionally revealed weaknesses of the country’s military. One indication came with the building of facilities for launching new intercontinental ballistic missiles in an inland desert region. The other was a series of further attempts to… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia August 16, 2021
Taiwan continues to shine. Aide sent to Haiti after a devastating earthquake combines growing ties with Lithuania. China objects—and those are bad optics that China’s speech-control can’t control outside its borders. China has been rewriting religion for years. Hymnals already… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, July 19, 2021
China faces a three-pronged attack in the realm of public opinion. The Olympics converge with COVID; the third is three levelings up in Chinese military aggression. COVID is seen in the public eye as having mainly originated from China. Even… Read More ›
The Nuclear Future of East Asia
In the face of North Korea and China’s continuous expansion and advancement in their nuclear arsenal in the past decade, the nuclear question for East Asian countries is now more urgent than ever—especially when U.S.’s credibility of extended deterrence has… Read More ›
China unleash AI fighter jets capable of shooting down real pilots – ‘Better than humans’
China has unveiled its latest military technological achievement – fighter jets controlled by artificial intelligence (AI). In simulated test battles, the AI-controlled jets were able to shoot down real human pilots according to the Chinese military’s official newspaper, PLA Daily…. Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, May 3, 2021
Navies from across the globe are holding a slumber party in the East Pacific, namely the South Sea. British and other Europeans join the US, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, and of course China. Everyone says they want things to… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, April 19, 2021
China is over the line. There is no way that a nation which knows its own military limits would act as China is acting. Chinese militarized ships anchoring near the Philippines provide just one example. If China had the power… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, April 12, 2021
China’s getting more flack from more sides—Vietnam, Japan, the Philippines. Vietnamese are furious with H&M for depicting maps with Vietnam-claimed islands as part of China, even though H&M did that because the Chinese told them to. The noose of perceived… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, March 29, 2021
China’s adversaries face a tightly closing decision. America needs to decide whether it can keep playing the role of the world-cop with only its B-game, or if it is ready to bust out its A-game not seen since FDR. More… Read More ›
China says four PLA soldiers died in India border clash last year
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) admitted on Friday that four of its soldiers died in a border clash with Indian soldiers, days after China and India withdrew their troops from the region. Starting last week, China withdrew around 10,000 troops… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, February 22, 2021
China is mixing its civilian population with military front lines. This new Sansha “City” probably should be called a province and not a “city”. Leave it to the Chinese and Taiwanese governments to garble province-level translation. It’s not anything the… Read More ›
Xi Jinping calls for enhanced combat readiness from Chinese military during holidays
Chinese President Xi Jinping called for the Chinese military to enhance its combat readiness during the upcoming Spring Festival holidays when he recently inspected an aviation division of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force. Experts said other militaries should… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, February 1, 2020
It’s happening. Biden is battening down on China. The Chinese still think they can push their diktat in the South Sea and the East Sea and the Taiwan Strait and the Indian Ocean. Rumors spread in America of China helping… Read More ›
China-Taiwan tensions rise days into Biden presidency
Chinese air force planes including 12 fighter jets entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone for a second day on Sunday, Taiwan said, as tensions rise near the island just days into US President Joe Biden’s new administration. China views democratically… Read More ›
Taiwan reports large incursion by Chinese air force
Eight Chinese bomber planes and four fighter jets entered the southwestern corner of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone on Saturday, and Taiwan’s air force deployed missiles to “monitor” the incursion, the island’s defense ministry said. China, which claims Taiwan as… Read More ›
China authorises coast guard to fire on foreign vessels if needed
China passed a law on Friday that for the first time explicitly allows its coast guard to fire on foreign vessels, a move that could make the contested waters around China more choppy. China has maritime sovereignty disputes with Japan… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, January 18, 2021
This is a linchpin week. Britain’s new aircraft carrier stands by with courses ready for the South Sea. America has an inauguration scheduled amid more foreseeable chaos, likely greater than Hong Kong. Bad news on China only gets worse—while the… Read More ›
AVIC building twin-seat version of top fighter jet
Aviation Industry Corp of China, the nation’s leading aircraft maker, is poised to develop a twin-seat version of its J-20 stealth fighter jet-China’s most advanced combat plane, according to the State-owned conglomerate. In a video clip recently published on AVIC’s… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, January 9, 2021
Let’s look past the fact that Chinese state media doesn’t know what it means to be “cowardly”. Pompeo rejecting Chinese Communist preferences on US policy with Taiwan is not “cowardly”, at worst it would be “foolish” or “over-confidence”; but “cowardly”… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, January 4, 2021
The Chinese make one huge gamble based on two doubtful conclusions. They think Biden will be inaugurated in January. They think they have deterred the US military in the Pacific. Both notions have been carefully feigned and crafted by the… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, December 28, 2020
Anymore, it’s not only bad news about China, but continued action in both military and trade. The pressure Washington puts on Beijing keeps finding new ways to keep turning up. Sanctions continue to increase. Military attention rises. And, Japan puts… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, December 7, 2020
A date which will live in infamy, 79 years ago. The Chinese warned the Japanese not to attack America for fear of waking a sleeping giant. Now, the Chinese are speeding against their own advice. The move will likely be… Read More ›
Invasion killer: Taiwan’s new subs a formidable force
On paper, as they say, China has a distinct advantage when it comes to naval power. Over the past decade, it has aggressively built up its navy to over 300 warships and submarines, making it the largest navy in the… Read More ›
Trump’s spy chief says China working on ‘super soldiers’
In the 1987 movie Robocop, Peter Weller portrays a police officer who is nearly killed by criminals, and whose brain and body are used by scientists to create a cyborg policeman, equipped with super strength. Of course, it all goes… Read More ›
China’s new H-20 stealth bomber could hit Pearl Harbor: analysts
Just when things were not going well for the Pentagon, vis-a-vis China’s rapid military growth, US planners now have to rethink the entire scenario. There’s a new kid on the block, and “he” is terrifying. It involves China’s new H-20… Read More ›
China tests engine for Mach 16 aerospace bomber
SCMP says in its report “Chinese team test jet engine ‘able to reach anywhere on Earth within 2 hours” that China tests a prototype of sodramjet engine in its hypersonic wind tunnel in Beijing. Such enigine can power an aerospaceplane… Read More ›
China looks to create an army of stealth fighter jets with new ‘metamaterial’ element
Scientists in China have reportedly made breakthroughs in an engineered material that is set to enhance the stealth technology used in fighter jets in possession of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Stealth technology is considered to the most advanced technology… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, November 16, 2020
America is one of the most cunning nations, almost as much so as Britain. Chinese are known for signing contracts early, then negotiating after—something the West calls “reneging”, which breaks the contract. London always knew China wouldn’t be able to… Read More ›
PLAAF J-16 fighter pilots seen using new helmet
Footage released on 11 November by the state-owned China Central Television 7 (CCTV 7) channel shows that People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) pilots of J-16 multirole fighter aircraft are using what appears to be a new helmet featuring a… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, November 9, 2020
China and Taiwan are in a military face-off for a singular reason: xenophobia. Taiwan had everything it needed to counter China without help from the US, but it snubbed foreigners and still continues to do so today. Were it not… Read More ›
Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning embarks on voyage, sets fighter jet pilot training history
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy aircraft carrier Liaoning has been at sea over the past week, making history by qualifying the first batch of new fighter jet pilots who were directly recruited from high school and trained specifically… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, November 2, 2020
China, China, China. What is the world to think? As a condition of formalizing relations between the United States and Communist-controlled China, US law mandated weapons sales to Taiwan. Now, China is angry that the US upheld this law. Would… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, October 26, 2020
The flashpoint of Taiwan has become a pregnant possibility. Reportedly, a US military jet flew across Taiwan, and no one is fully certain over who claimed what and why. Taiwan’s government said something after the US government said something about… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, October 19, 2020
The new global trend is hit pieces against China; even a Taiwanese rapper is on the bandwagon. China’s solution to lack of technology is to take over countries that have enough freedom to create technology, then deprive those countries of… Read More ›
China’s new early warning aircraft makes maiden flight
As China builds aircraft carriers, it was expected to develop a carrier-based airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) system — and that appears to be happening with the recent progress of the KJ-600. Unverified photos posted on social media show… Read More ›
After stealth J-20, China’s next fighter-jet could be a super F-35 copycat
In its endeavours of achieving the “world-class military” status, China’s military and its defence industry may have taken a significant step in the right direction with the development of its first sixth-generation fighter jet, which experts claim to be a… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, August 31, 2020
There was always a stark difference between America’s southern wall and the Berlin Wall. America’s wall was built to keep people out—whether they were desperate to come in or hungry to invade. The Berlin Wall was meant to keep people… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, August 24, 2020
These days, Taiwan is the perfect poster boy in China bashing. Yes, China needs to be confronted. No, China can’t own the world. Yes, China wants to own the world. Yes, China responds to anything and everything like a friendless… Read More ›
China unveils its own ‘mother of all bombs’ that is stealth, precision-guided & can drop 240 bombs
China recently unveiled its new 500 kg missile system Tianlei 500 which translates to ‘Sky Thunder’. People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) new munition dispenser and how it can be used to attack targets were featured in a defence programme on state… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, August 17, 2020
All of us enjoy the results of the paths we choose, paths which no one can choose for us. Americans believe this so strongly, it often leads to unhealthy apathy toward others in distress. When America finally decides to help… Read More ›
China unveils two-seater design for stealth plane based on J-20 fighter
China is developing a new generation two-seater stealth warplane, based on its most advanced fighter the J-20, intended as an early-warning aircraft that will serve as a command centre for other weapons such as fighter jets and rocket launchers. Chengdu… Read More ›
Wanted: Chinese navy pilots with the right stuff
The main fear of US fighter pilots in Vietnam, was not being shot down by SAM missiles. It wasn’t even the unreliability of Sidewinder missiles, which often failed after going from the cold confines of 30,000+ feet, down to the… Read More ›
Deception is key to Chinese military strategies
The role of deception in military operations has long been valued by Chinese military leaders and strategists. Despite this long tradition, few studies on Chinese military power touch on the People’s Liberation Army (PLA)’s use of deception. China regards deception… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, July 27, 2020
Bail on Hong Kong, jump to Taiwan. That’s the move from everyone. Britain doesn’t bail on Hong Kong, but creates a path for Hong Kongers to bail on Hong Kong. Britain isn’t just walking away. By allowing British Overseas Passport… Read More ›
Stealth UAVs could give China’s Type-076 assault carrier more firepower
The Chinese Navy is building assault carriers to support amphibious operations, like a possible invasion of Taiwan or landings on disputed islands in the South China Sea. The first two ships, called LHDs (landing helicopter docks) in naval terminology, are… Read More ›