China: should we be alarmed yet ?

[WarToad]

Oh, what a tangled web we weave.

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http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/chinese-all-cash-buyers-of-us-homes-have-tripled-since-2005/ar-AAficro?li=AAa0dzB&OCID=msnHomepage

MarketWatch
By Daniel Goldstein
11 hrs ago

Chinese all-cash buyers of U.S. homes have tripled since 2005

Xi?oshòu. That's how you say "For Sale" in Chinese. And if you're selling to an all-cash buyer in a U.S. real estate deal, you may need to find a real-estate agent who speaks Mandarin.

A joint analysis by Irvine, Calif.-based realty research firm RealtyTrac, and New Jersey-based multicultural marketing company Ethnic Technologies, found that 46% of Mandarin Chinese-speaking buyers who purchased U.S. homes in the 17 months ending in May 2015 paid all cash, more than triple the number paying all cash in 2005. Overall, Mandarin speakers are the second largest non-English speaking cash-paying group, totaling nearly 18% of all cash deals, second behind those buyers speaking Spanish at 43%.

Among all non-English speaking groups, the share of all-cash buyers of U.S. homes increased from a 20% share in 2005 to a 33% share in the 17 months ending in May 2015.

The two firms looked at 10 million publicly recorded residential property sales deeds in 2014 and 2015 compared with 2005 by ethnicity and native language spoken. The results were determined by predictive software that can determine ethnicity and language preference based on first name, last name, and address of the record, according to Lisa Radding, the director of research for Ethnic Technologies.

"Cash buyers across the board are playing a much bigger role in the housing market now than they were 10 years ago, and that is particularly true for Chinese Mandarin-speaking cash buyers, who are more likely to be foreign nationals," said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. "Foreign cash buyers have helped to accelerate U.S. home price appreciation over the past few years given that these buyers are often not as constrained by income as local, traditionally financed buyers," he said.

Indeed, median home values in the U.S. have risen to $180,800, the highest level since mid-2008, and up 3.3% in the past year, and they're projected to rise another 2.2% in 2016.

Chinese Mandarin-speaking buyers also increased as a share of overall buyers more than any other language group between 2005 and 2015, up more than 9%, according to RealtyTrac. Other languages spoken increasingly by buyers were Hindi and Arabic, the research firm said.

Overall, Chinese buyers spent $22 billion on U.S. housing in the 12 months through March 2014 — 72% more than a year earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors, buying mostly high-end, expensive homes with a median price of over $500,000. Asian buyers make up more than a third of all international real estate buyers in the U.S., and Chinese investing in U.S. real estate is so popular that the Washington, D. C-based Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE) offers its guide to real-estate investing in the U.S. in only two languages, English and Mandarin.

OB Jacobi, president of Windermere Real Estate, a real-estate broker in Seattle, said that Chinese buyers account for almost half of all real estate activity in Seattle's most expensive neighborhoods and says more than three-quarters of the real estate deals there are for cash. "Seattle is the closest mainland U.S. city to travel to from Beijing and offers things that really appeal to the Chinese, like clean air, quality education, and employment opportunities with several Fortune 500 companies," Jacobi said. Seattle home prices rose 12% in the past year, and are expected to climb another 6.4% through 2016.

Ohio, Colorado and Southern California too are seeing plenty of all-cash Mandarin-speaking buyers, according to RealtyTrac and Ethnic Technologies.

"Annually since 2005, we have seen that destabilizing events around the world continue to increase the positioning for U.S. real estate, particularly Southern California, as a safe harbor for investment, particularly cash," said Mark Hughes, chief operating officer with First Team Real Estate, a Realtor covering the Southern California market. "Given the somewhat laid-back Chinese government attention to withdrawal limits we expect these funds to continue to be a driver of activity and bidding throughout this year."


© MarketWatch

Daniel Goldstein is a personal-finance and real-estate reporter for MarketWatch.

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interesting info  and   info/knowledge is power...not that we peons have much say in the political arena   BUT 
still interesting


http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34549744

How China guards the Xi creation myth

Carrie Gracie
China editor
18 October 2015



The UK says it wants to be China's best friend in the West, and will be laying out the red carpet for the country's new strongman, President Xi Jinping, when he begins a state visit on Monday. But what kind of person is he? I tried to find out by visiting the cave where he lived for seven years in his youth.

I was looking forward to seeing the cave where China's president grew up but as our van skimmed along behind the sleek black sedan, I was nervous too. The man from the propaganda department already had an anxious sheen about him. I foresaw trouble.

President Xi is building a personality cult. The last thing the strongman with the perfect creation myth needs is the BBC puncturing it. So pity that local propaganda chief in the car ahead.

In general the president's spin doctors do a very slick job of presenting him as a man of the people. He tours leaky back alley homes, ducking through washing lines and wearing no face mask - the message that this is a leader prepared to breathe the same polluted air as you. He talks to his public in earthy prose, telling students that life is like a shirt with buttons where you have to get the first few right or the rest will all go wrong. He queues up in an ordinary dumpling shop for lunch and pays for his own meal. Message - he is neither greedy nor showy.


Getty Images

It's all clever political signalling of course. Behind the smile, Xi Jinping is a ruthless operator. You don't rise to the top of the Chinese communist party without being a consummate political player and Mr Xi has spent a lifetime playing.

But the Sedan in front was now stopping at a police barrier. We'd arrived at the heart of the president's creation myth. Nearly five decades ago, the 15-year-old Xi fled from the chaos of the capital to this bleak and breathtaking landscape of yellow canyons, caves and mountains. The contrast with life in Beijing must have been even more extreme in those days

Especially for Xi himself. He had actually lived two lives by the age of 15. In the first his father was a hero of the communist revolution so Xi spent his early years as a so called red princeling, enjoying a privileged upbringing. But all of that was shattered by the civil war that an increasingly paranoid and vengeful Chairman Mao inflicted on the party elite in the 1960s. Xi's father was jailed, his family humiliated. One of his sisters died. Without parents or friends to protect him from the murderous red guards dispensing summary justice on the streets, the teenage Xi lived his second Beijing life, dodging death threats and detention... until he came to this village.

Millions of Chinese city kids were doing the same thing. Chairman Mao had decreed they should spend time in the countryside, learning from the hard life of the peasants, and Xi Jinping says he did learn. The spin doctors have turned his teenage trauma into triumph. This village has become a shrine to its most famous son, a vital part of the president's image. I left my heart in Liangjiahe. Liangjiahe made me, he likes to claim.


Liangjiahe, with all of its canyons and caves


There aren't many 21st Century leaders of whom you can say that they lived in a cave and made it as a farmer before clawing their way to the political summit. But in control-conscious China, those facts could not possibly be allowed to speak for themselves. So I was marched round a museum extolling the good deeds that Xi did for his fellow villagers, and whenever my attention flagged a gushing guide stepped forward to fill in narrative gaps, and I soon realised that what I'd mistaken for phalanxes of communist party pilgrims were actually propaganda officials. Also keeping an eye on me rather than the museum exhibits, a liberal sprinkling of plainclothes police.



The police and propaganda team watch on


Why the paranoia? Why does the history have to be sanitised, all trace of real personality expunged? I wasn't looking for revelations of youthful depravity or character flaws. But everywhere I turned the memories were so carefully crafted it was hard to work out whether any of them were real. And all the while, the propaganda chief's glassy pallor worsened. Eventually he asked me to sign a document promising that every word the BBC said about President Xi would be positive. He blanched when I said I couldn't. It might be his job to burnish the presidential image, but it certainly wasn't mine.

The great irony of Xi Jinping's personality cult is that under Chairman Mao he and his family suffered from strongman politics. And after the tragedy of the cultural revolution the communist party resolved it would never make the same mistake again. Grey faceless committees ran China for the next 40 years. But now the strongman is back. And perhaps also the danger that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

For us it was time to leave the caves. The propaganda chief had started threatening to confiscate our recordings. President Xi may have left his heart in Liangjiahe but I didn't want to leave all the material I'd gathered there. That night we made a sudden bolt, driving 200 miles (320km) to an airport from which we could get our work out of China. Strange exploits when you consider that the cave years are possibly the most positive chapter of Xi Jinping's life even without persuasion and threats from the propaganda department.

Mao's Cultural Revolution
?In May 1966, Chairman Mao launched the Cultural Revolution
?The 10-year political and ideological campaign was aimed at reviving revolutionary spirit and purging the country of "impure" elements
?Young Chinese people were sent to the countryside to learn from the hard life of the peasants
?Millions of people were persecuted and killed during Mao's rule

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many sides to what is going on ..this is  more knowledge


http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/china%e2%80%99s-selling-tons-of-us-debt-americans-cant-care-less/ar-AAfBhCi?li=BBieTUX

Bloomberg
Daniel Kruger
3 hrs ago

China's selling tons of U.S. debt. Americans can't care less

For all the dire warnings over China's retreat from U.S. government debt, there is one simple fact that is being overlooked: American demand is as robust as ever.

Not only are domestic mutual funds buying record amounts of Treasuries at auctions this year, U.S. investors are also increasing their share of the $12.9 trillion market for the first time since 2012, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

The buying has been crucial in keeping a lid on America's financing costs as China -- the largest foreign creditor with about $1.4 trillion of U.S. government debt -- pares its stake for the first time since at least 2001. Yields on benchmark Treasuries have surprised almost everyone by falling this year, dipping below 2 percent last week. The 10-year note yield was little changed at 2.04 percent at 10:50 a.m. in London on Monday.

It's not the scenario that doomsayers predicted would leave the U.S. vulnerable to China's whims. But the fact that Americans are pouring into Treasuries may point to a deeper concern: the world's largest economy, plagued by lackluster wage growth and almost no inflation, just isn't strong enough for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.

"As you develop a more pessimistic view on global growth, inflation, and rates, asset managers are going to buy Treasuries in that environment," said Brandon Swensen, the co-head of U.S. fixed-income at RBC Global Asset Management, which oversees $35 billion.

Overseas Creditors

Overseas creditors have played a key role in financing America's debt as the nation borrowed heavily to pull the economy out of recession. Since 2008, foreigners have more than doubled their Treasury investments and now own about $6.1 trillion.

China has led the way, funneling hundreds of billions into Treasuries as the Asian nation boomed and it bought dollars to limit the gains in its currency.

Now that's changing.

China's economy grew 6.9 percent in the third quarter, the slowest pace since the first three months of 2009, a government report showed Monday, even as it kept Premier Li Keqiang's target of 7 percent growth in 2015 within reach.

This year alone, China's holdings have fallen about $200 billion as it raises money in support of its flagging economy and stock market. If the pattern holds, it would be the first time that China has pulled back from Treasuries on an annual basis. The tally includes Belgium, which analysts say is home to Chinese custodial accounts.

The People's Bank of China directed questions on its Treasury holdings to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, which didn't reply to a fax seeking comment.

The Chinese pullback has led some to raise troubling questions about the U.S.'s ability to borrow and refinance its obligations at ultra-low rates year after year. It's also reignited long-held concerns, aired over the years by both Republican and Democratic politicians, that China's ownership of U.S. debt is a threat to America's independence.

Homegrown Buyers

Homegrown demand for Treasuries suggests there's no reason to panic.

American funds have purchased 42 percent of the $1.6 trillion of notes and bonds sold at auctions this year, the highest since the Treasury department began breaking out the data five years ago. As recently as 2011, they bought as little as 18 percent.

As a group, U.S. investors of all types have also stepped up their holdings of Treasuries since they fell to a low in mid-2014. In 2015, that share has climbed 2.1 percentage points to 33.1 percent of the U.S. government debt market.

That might not sound like much, but the annual increase -- which has pushed up Americans' holdings to a record $4.3 trillion -- would be the first since 2012.

Misplaced Worries

"The worries about China selling are misplaced," said David Ader, the head of U.S. government-bond strategy at CRT Capital Group LLC. "This was one of the great fears of the bond market, and it's happening and we took it in stride."

While the appetite among Americans for the haven of U.S. debt has kept the government's financing costs low, what's worrisome is what it suggests about the health of the economy, according to George Goncalves, the head of interest-rate strategy at Nomura Holdings Inc., one of 22 dealers that are obliged to bid at Treasury auctions.

Sure, the U.S. is creating jobs, but a raft of disappointing indicators, from retail sales to manufacturing, suggests consumers are scaling back just as overseas demand weakens.

And wages are stagnating for many Americans. Since the recession ended, average hourly earnings have increased less than in any expansion since the 1960s. Without higher wages to spur spending, inflation has remained stubbornly low.

Price Pressures

The auction data shows that U.S. funds targeted 30-year bonds -- those most vulnerable to rising growth and inflation -- the most among interest-bearing Treasuries. That comes as traders are pricing in the likelihood the inflation rate will remain below the Fed's 2 percent goal over the coming decade.

Economists in a Bloomberg survey now see a 15 percent chance the U.S. will slide into a recession in the next 12 months, the highest estimate since 2013.

Investors in the U.S. "are making a decision based on their outlook and it's a reflection of the economy as well as their risk aversion," Nomura's Goncalves said.

It also suggests the Fed policy makers may want to rethink their assumptions about the need to raise interest rates any time soon. While Fed Chair Janet Yellen has said she still sees the economy growing enough for the central bank to raise rates by year-end, traders are skeptical. They see only a 32 percent chance of a rate increase by December, while the odds of a March rise are at little more than a coin flip.

Some Fed officials are coming around to that view. Governors Lael Brainard and Daniel Tarullo both indicated this month the Fed should wait until clearer signs of inflation emerge.

"There's no pressing reason for the Fed to hike rates and there are clear risks against a global backdrop that's so fragile," said Robert Tipp, the chief investment strategist at Prudential Financial's fixed-income unit, which oversees $533 billion.

--With assistance from Steven Yang in Beijing.

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http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34542147

By Richard Anderson
Business reporter, BBC News
20 October 2015

What does China own in the UK?

China may be the world's second-largest economy behind the US, but it has more money in the bank than any other country.

Indeed three of the world's 10 biggest sovereign wealth funds are Chinese, together holding more than $1.5tn (£988bn) in assets.

And despite the slowdown in the Chinese economy in the past five years, the government has been putting this money to good use, particularly so since it recovered from the global economic slowdown sparked by 2008's financial crisis.

In fact, overseas investments have grown from $20bn in 2005 to $171bn last year. And, as the chart below shows, the UK is one of China's favourite places to invest.



In the first half of this year, Chinese investment in the UK fell sharply - just $1.8bn compared with more than $8bn in the whole of 2014.




But this figure is likely to be boosted significantly this week with the announcement of a number of deals while President Xi Jinping and his delegation visit Britain. Backing for a new nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset could well be announced, while a separate deal for another nuclear plant at Bradwell in Essex has also been mooted.

If these and other deals like them don't come off, then the UK could well slip behind Italy - which has seen huge inflows of Chinese cash in the past two years - as China's favoured European investment destination.




Almost half of all China's global investments have been in the energy sector, many of them designed specifically to provide power for the Chinese. While the country's overall population may not grow significantly beyond its current 1.4 billion, an explosion in the middle class as wealth increases will see demand for energy rocket.

And as China develops technologies to satisfy this demand, it will become increasingly keen to export them. This is precisely why China is so keen to showcase its nuclear technologies in the UK.

But energy has not been China's primary interest in the UK. In fact, property investments far outweigh those in energy. The motivation here is far more straightforward - profit. The Chinese simply see UK commercial property as a good bet. Unsurprisingly, this is also the main motivation behind the huge sums of money China has pumped into the UK's financial sector.




One such investment is in Barclays bank - all $3bn of it. This is by far the largest single investment in the UK by the Chinese government or a Chinese company, in this case China Development Bank.



Sovereign Wealth Fund

Assets ($bn)

Launched

China Investment Corporation (CIC) 746.7 2007
SAFE Investment Company 547 1997
National Social Security Fund 236 2000
Source: SWFI   

As you will see from the chart below, when it comes to a massive global bank such as Barclays, not even $3bn gives you much of a stake.

The same is the case with oil giant BP, in which the SAFE sovereign wealth fund has invested more than $2bn.

But other investments in far smaller companies have given Chinese investors either outright ownership, in the case of Pizza Express, or a controlling interest, in the case of House of Fraser, Weetabix and Sunseeker yachts




This chart is not exhaustive, and does not include some property investments. You can download the full data from the American Enterprise Institute.
https://www.aei.org/china-global-investment-tracker/





..................

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-34571436

Xi Jinping visit: UK-China ties 'will be lifted to new height'

1 hour ago




Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption
Mr Xi was given a guard of honour during the reception at Horse Guards Parade

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/exposed-beijings-covert-global-radio-network_5637d596e4b00a4d2e0b78b3
Reuters
By Koh Gui Qing and John Shiffman
Posted: 11/02/2015 04:33 PM EST

EXPOSED: Beijing's Covert Global Radio Network

By Koh Gui Qing and John Shiffman



BEIJING/WASHINGTON, Nov 2 (Reuters) - In August, foreign ministers from 10 nations blasted China for building artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea. As media around the world covered the diplomatic clash, a radio station that serves the most powerful city in America had a distinctive take on the news.

Located outside Washington, D.C., WCRW radio made no mention of China's provocative island project. Instead, an analyst explained that tensions in the region were due to unnamed "external forces" trying "to insert themselves into this part of the world using false claims."

Behind WCRW's coverage is a fact that's never broadcast: The Chinese government controls much of what airs on the station, which can be heard on Capitol Hill and at the White House.

WCRW is just one of a growing number of stations across the world through which Beijing is broadcasting China-friendly news and programming.

A Reuters investigation spanning four continents has identified at least 33 radio stations in 14 countries that are part of a global radio web structured in a way that obscures its majority shareholder: state-run China Radio International, or CRI.

Many of these stations primarily broadcast content created or supplied by CRI or by media companies it controls in the United States, Australia and Europe. Three Chinese expatriate businessmen, who are CRI's local partners, run the companies and in some cases own a stake in the stations. The network reaches from Finland to Nepal to Australia, and from Philadelphia to San Francisco.

At WCRW, Beijing holds a direct financial interest in the Washington station's broadcasts. Corporate records in the United States and China show a Beijing-based subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned radio broadcaster owns 60 percent of an American company that leases almost all of the station's airtime.

China has a number of state-run media properties, such as the Xinhua news agency, that are well-known around the world. But American officials charged with monitoring foreign media ownership and propaganda said they were unaware of the Chinese-controlled radio operation inside the United States until contacted by Reuters. A half-dozen former senior U.S. officials said federal authorities should investigate whether the arrangement violates laws governing foreign media and agents in the United States.


"SERIOUS INQUIRY"


A U.S. law enforced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) prohibits foreign governments or their representatives from holding a radio license for a U.S. broadcast station. Under the Communications Act, foreign individuals, governments and corporations are permitted to hold up to 20 percent ownership directly in a station and up to 25 percent in the U.S. parent corporation of a station.

CRI itself doesn't hold ownership stakes in U.S. stations, but it does have a majority share via a subsidiary in the company that leases WCRW in Washington and a Philadelphia station with a similarly high-powered signal.

Said former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt: "If there were allegations made about de facto Chinese government ownership of radio stations, then I'm sure the FCC would investigate."

U.S. law also requires anyone inside the United States seeking to influence American policy or public opinion on behalf of a foreign government or group to register with the Department of Justice. Public records show that CRI's U.S. Chinese-American business partner and his companies haven't registered as foreign agents under the law, called the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA.

I would make a serious inquiry under FARA into a company rebroadcasting Chinese government propaganda inside the United States without revealing that it is acting on behalf of, or it's owned or controlled by China," said D.E. "Ed" Wilson Jr., a former senior White House and Treasury Department official.

CRI headquarters in Beijing and the Chinese embassy in Washington declined to make officials available for interviews or to comment on the findings of this article.

Justice Department national security spokesman Marc Raimondi and FCC spokesman Neil Grace declined to comment.


Other officials at the FCC said the agency receives so many license applications that it only launches a probe if it receives a complaint. People familiar with the matter said no such complaint has been lodged with the FCC about the CRI-backed network in the United States.


BUILDING "SOFT POWER"


Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has chafed at a world order he sees as dominated by the United States and its allies, is aware that China struggles to project its views in the international arena.

"We should increase China's soft power, give a good Chinese narrative and better communicate China's message to the world," Xi said in a policy address in November last year, according to Xinhua.

CRI head Wang Gengnian has described Beijing's messaging effort as the "borrowed boat" strategy - using existing media outlets in foreign nations to carry Chinese propaganda.

The 33 radio stations backed by CRI broadcast in English, Chinese or local languages, offering a mix of news, music and cultural programs. Newscasts are peppered with stories highlighting China's development, such as its space program, and its contribution to humanitarian causes, including earthquake relief in Nepal.

"We are not the evil empire that some Western media portray us to be," said a person close to the Communist Party leadership in Beijing who is familiar with the CRI network. "Western media reports about China are too negative. We just want to improve our international image. It's self-protection."

In some ways, the CRI-backed radio stations fulfill a similar advocacy role to that of the U.S.-run Voice of America. But there is a fundamental difference: VOA openly publishes the fact that it receives U.S. government funding. CRI is using front companies that cloak its role.

A few of the programs broadcast in the United States cite reports from CRI, but most don't. One program, The Beijing Hour, says it is "brought to you by China Radio International."


Some shows are slick, others lack polish. While many segments are indistinguishable from mainstream American radio shows, some include announcers speaking English with noticeable Chinese accents.

The production values vary because the broadcasts are appealing to three distinct audiences: first-generation Chinese immigrants with limited English skills; second-generation Chinese curious about their ancestral homeland; and non-Chinese listeners whom Beijing hopes to influence.

One thing the programs have in common: They generally ignore criticism of China and steer clear of anything that casts Beijing in a negative light.


A top-of-the-hour morning newscast on Oct. 15, broadcast in Washington and other U.S. cities, was identified only as "City News." It reported that U.S. officials were concerned about cyber attacks, including one in which the personal information of about 20 million American government workers was allegedly stolen. The broadcast left out a key element: It has been widely reported that U.S. officials believe China was behind that hack.

Last year, as thousands of protesters demanding free elections paralyzed Hong Kong for weeks, the news on CRI-backed stations in the United States presented China's point of view. A report the day after the protests ended did not explain why residents were on the streets and carried no comments from protest leaders. The demonstrations, a report said, had "failed without the support of the people in Hong Kong."

Many of these stations do not run ads and so do not appear to be commercially motivated.


THREE SURROGATES

Around the world, corporate records show, CRI's surrogates use the same business structure. The three Chinese businessmen in partnership with Beijing have each created a domestic media company that is 60 percent owned by a Beijing-based group called Guoguang Century Media Consultancy. Guoguang, in turn, is wholly owned by a subsidiary of CRI, according to Chinese company filings.

The three companies span the globe:

 In Europe, GBTimes of Tampere, Finland, has an ownership stake in or provides content to at least nine stations, according to interviews and an examination of company filings.

 In Asia-Pacific, Global CAMG Media Group of Melbourne, Australia, has an ownership stake in or supplies programming to at least eight stations, according to corporate records.


 And in North America, G&E Studio Inc, near Los Angeles, California, broadcasts content nearly full time on at least 15 U.S. stations. A station in Vancouver also broadcasts G&E content. In addition to distributing CRI programming, G&E produces and distributes original Beijing-friendly shows from its California studios.

In a Sept. 16 interview at his offices near Los Angeles, G&E president and CEO James Su confirmed that CRI subsidiary Guoguang Century Media holds a majority stake in his company and that he has a contract with the Chinese broadcaster. He said that a non-disclosure agreement bars him from divulging details.

Su said he complies with U.S. laws. G&E doesn't own stations, but rather leases the airtime on them. "It's like a management company that manages a condominium," he said.

Su added that he is a businessman, not an agent for China. "Our U.S. audience and our U.S. public has the choice," Su said. "They can choose to listen or not listen. I think this is an American value."


GBTimes CEO Zhao Yinong, who spearheads the European arm of the expatriate radiooperation, confirmed that he receives several million euros a year from CRI. In an interview in Beijing, Zhao said he was "not interested in creating a false China" and he had "nothing to hide."

Tommy Jiang, the head of CAMG, the Australian-based company that owns and operates stations in the Asia-Pacific region, declined to comment.


BORN IN A CAVE

CRI has grown remarkably since its founding in 1941. According to its English-language website, its first broadcast was aired from a cave, and the news reader had to frighten away wolves with a flashlight. Today, CRI says it broadcasts worldwide in more than 60 languages and Chinese dialects.



CRI content is carefully scripted, with the treatment of sensitive topics such as the banned Falun Gong spiritual group adhering strictly to the government line. Those restrictions might make China's soft-power push an uphill battle with audiences in places like Houston, Rome or Auckland.

But CRI does have something to offer station owners. Since 2010, CRI's broadcast partner in the United States has struck deals that bailed out struggling community radio stations, either by purchasing them outright or paying tens of thousands of dollars a month to lease virtually all their airtime. The latter is known as "time-brokering" and is the method G&E used to take to the air in Washington.

The 195-foot towers broadcasting Beijing's agenda throughout the Washington region are located in suburban Loudoun County, Virginia, near Dulles International Airport. They pump out a 50,000-watt signal, the maximum for an AM station in the United States.


The towers went live in 2011. In the previous five decades, before the Chinese got involved, the station was known as WAGE, and it used smaller equipment and broadcast mostly local news and talk.

At just 5,000 watts, the signal didn't carry far. This didn't matter much until the 1990s, when Loudoun County boomed into a bedroom community for Washington. Commuters would lose the signal halfway to the capital.

In 2005, an American company called Potomac Radio LLC purchased the station and added some nationally syndicated programming. Potomac Radio president Alan Pendleton said his company had a history of leasing time to ethnic programmers, including an hour a day to CRI on another station. Revenue at WAGE continued to fall, however, and in 2009, it went off the air.

"It was a painful, painful experience," said Pendleton. "We were losing millions of dollars a year down the drain."




LOUDOUN COUNTY'S "LAST HOPE"



Saying they hoped to resurrect the station, other Potomac Radio executives asked Loudoun County in 2009 for permission to erect three broadcast towers on land owned by a county utility, records show. The new towers would boost the station's signal tenfold to 50,000 watts, reaching into Washington.

In their application, Potomac Radio executives argued that the new towers offered the "last hope to retain Loudoun County's only" radio station. The paperwork made no mention of plans to lease airtime to Su and CRI.

Potomac Radio also invoked the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, a day when the station provided "critical information to county businesses and parents" as mobile phone service became overloaded. The new towers would contribute to public safety, proponents said.

The county Board of Supervisors approved the towers. In the days before the station came back on air in April 2011, Potomac Radio sought FCC permission to change the name to WCRW.

Asked about the initials, Pendleton confirmed that they stand for China Radio Washington. The change was his idea, not CRI's, he said.

Loudoun County officials were surprised when the amped-up station returned as WCRW and began broadcasting G&E and CRI content about China.

"It was all very deceptive," said Kelly Burk, a county supervisor at the time. "They presented it as all about being about local radio, and never let on what they were really up to."


Potomac Radio's Pendleton said there was no deception. His company was approached by CRI several months after the county approved the towers, he said.

Pendleton said he didn't know that G&E was 60 percent owned by a subsidiary of the Chinese government until Reuters informed him. But the arrangement complies with FCC law, he said, because G&E leases the airwaves instead of owning the station.

In any event, he said, CRI is open about its goals: to present a window into Chinese culture and offer Chinese points of view on international affairs.

"If you listen to other state-sponsored broadcasters," especially Russia's, "they're really insidious," Pendleton said. "CRI's not like that at all."

Pendleton said he has no input in WCRW content: He simply rebroadcasts whatever programs arrive from CRI's man in America, G&E founder James Su.


CHINA'S "PROXY"

James Yantao Su was born in Shanghai in 1970, the year China launched its first satellite. He moved to the United States in 1989, he said, ultimately settling in West Covina, a suburb of Los Angeles, and became a U.S. citizen.

By the early 2000s, Su was a moderately successful media entrepreneur. But after his 2009 deal to create G&E, in which the Chinese state-owned subsidiary has a majority stake, his fortunes rose.

Today, the 44-year-old owns or co-owns real estate and radio stations worth more than $15 million, according to a Reuters analysis of U.S. corporate, property, tax and FCC records. His projects include English and Chinese-language stations, a magazine, a newspaper, four apartment buildings, condos at the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, a film festival and a charity that last year donated $230,000 to an orphanage in China.

Two of his primary companies are G&E Studio and EDI Media Inc. G&E dedicated a page on its website to showcase CRI as a "close" partner, but it recently deleted the page after Reuters made inquiries. EDI's site says it has become "China's outward media and advertising proxy" in the United States.

In 2013, the Chinese government presented Su with a special contribution award at a media event for Chinese broadcasters.

Other ties are not as visible: The key disclosure that G&E is 60 percent owned by Guoguang Century - the Beijing firm that's 100 percent owned by CRI - is contained in a footnote in a lengthy FCC filing made on behalf of another Su company, Golden City Broadcast, LLC.

Su declined to discuss his business career in detail. An early highlight, though, was a speech he gave in 2003, when he was in his early thirties.

Covered by China's state-run media, the speech laid out Su's vision for a business that could be profitable and also help China project its message in the United States. The business would need to be structured to comply with U.S. ownership laws and would "endorse China's ideology," Su was quoted as saying.

In the same speech, he spoke of his fellow expats' affinity for China. "The sense of belonging to China among countrymen residing abroad and their endorsement of China's current policies grow with each day," Su said, according to Xinhua.

In 2008, Su gave an address in which he criticized U.S. media for focusing their China coverage on issues such as human rights.

The media were misleading "the American masses' objective understanding of China, even engendering hostile emotions," Su said, according to a China National Radio report.

It was in 2009 that Su's vision really began to take shape. That year, records show, Su created G&E Studio.


"UNFILTERED REAL NEWS"


G&E now broadcasts in English and Chinese on at least 15 U.S. stations, including Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Houston, Honolulu and Portland, Oregon.

The content is largely the same on each station, produced either by CRI from Beijing or by G&E from California.

A typical hour on most stations begins with a short newscast that can toggle between China news and stories about violent crimes in the United States. Besides the overtly political coverage, topics range from global currency fluctuations and Chinese trade missions to celebrity wardrobe analysis and modern parenting challenges.

While Su owns a minority share of G&E, he has structured his radio station holdings in various ways. According to the most recent FCC records, he is the majority owner of at least six stations, such as the one in Atlanta, which he purchased for $2.1 million in 2013.

In other cases he leases airtime. In Washington, for instance, he leases virtually all the time on WCRW for more than $720,000 a year through G&E. A Philadelphia station is leased under a similar arrangement for at least $600,000 a year.

A spokeswoman for Su said Reuters' description of the extent of his network is "generally correct."

Su declined to describe how he makes money when most of the U.S. stations air virtually no commercials. He also declined to say how he got the money to finance his radio leases and acquisitions.

His stations, Su said, offer the American public an alternative viewpoint on Chinese culture and politics. He has "no way to control" what CRI broadcasts on the stations, he said, nor is he part of any plan to spread Chinese propaganda.

"We are only telling the unfiltered real news to our audience," he said.


On Oct. 29, WCRW carried a program called "The Hourly News." Among the top stories: Senior Chinese and U.S. naval commanders planned to speak by video after a U.S. Navy ship passed close by China's new artificial islands in the South China Sea.

Washington and its allies see the island-building program as a ploy to grab control of strategic sea lanes, and the Navy sail-by was meant to counter China's territorial claims.


WCRW omitted that side of the story.

The admirals are holding the talks, the announcer said, "amid the tension the U.S. created this week."



(Edited by Bill Tarrant and Peter Hirschberg. Reported by Koh Gui Qing in Beijing and John Shiffman in Washington and Los Angeles. Additional reporting by Benjamin Kang Lim and Joseph Campbell in Beijing, Ritsuko Ando in Tokyo, Gopal Sharma and Ross Adkin in Kathmandu, Mirwais Harooni in Kabul, Joyce Lee in Seoul, Eveline Danubrata and Arzia Tivany Wargadiredja in Jakarta, Mohammed Shihar in Colombo, Khettiya Jittapong and Pairat Temphairojana in Bangkok, Terrence Edwards in Ulan Bator, Theodora D'cruz in Singapore, Diane Chan in Hong Kong, Jane Wardell and Ian Chua in Sydney, Balazs Koranyi and Harro Ten Wolde in Frankfurt, Jussi Rosendahl in Helsinki, Sara Ledwith in London, Julia Fioretti in Brussels, Can Sezer in Istanbul, Andrius Sytas in Vilnius, Kole Casule in Skopje, Renee Maltezou in Athens, Margarita Antidze in Tbilisi, Radu-Sorin Marinas in Bucharest, Geert De Clercq in Paris, Marton Dunai in Budapest, Ed Cropley in Johannesburg, Selam Gebrekidan in New York, Anna Driver in Houston, Renee Dudley in Boston, Brian Grow in Atlanta, David Storey in Washington and Euan Rocha in Toronto.)




MORE: China, beijing

[space otter]

well if we think usa is a mess  I think these guys are trying to make it a tight race...



Giant Chairman Mao Statue Torn Down By Embarrassed Officials
It was never approved for construction in the first place



The 120-foot, gold-painted statue cost nearly half a million dollars to construct and was reportedly funded by local businessmen and villagers from Tongxu County in China's Henan province.

read the whole thing here
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mao-statue-torn-down_568ff588e4b0cad15e648e1c


...................................

and hey another money guy  is missing..go figure

Chinese billionaire Zhou Chengjian goes missing

Chinese billionaire Zhou Chengjian of one of China's biggest fashion chains, Metersbonwe, has gone missing, the company confirmed.

Mr Zhou is the latest in a string of high-profile businessmen in the country to temporarily disappear.

Metersbonwe suspended trading in its shares over his unaccounted absence.

Chinese media reports have speculated he has been picked up by the police as part of Beijing's anti-corruption drive.



that article is here:
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35261090

[space otter]

http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/05/investing/china-buys-chicago-stock-exchange/

by Matt Egan   @mattmegan5
February 5, 2016: 4:08 PM ET

China group to buy Chicago Stock Exchange

One of America's oldest stock exchanges has just been sold to China.

The 134-year-old Chicago Stock Exchange reached a deal on Friday to be acquired by a Chinese-led group of investors.
The purchase by Chongqing Casin Enterprise Group is the latest U.S. investment made by China and would give the country a foothold in the vast American stock market.

The struggling Chicago Stock Exchange is a very small player in the exchange world whose presence is overshadowed by Nasdaq (NDAQ), the iconic New York Stock Exchange and newer entrants.

As of January, the Chicago Stock Exchange handled just 0.5% of U.S. trading, making it the third-smallest U.S. exchange, according to TABB Group.

Terms of the Chicago acquisition were not released. Privately-held Casin Group was founded in 1997 and has investments in real estate, environmental protection, finance and other areas. The Chicago Stock Exchange is minority-owned by a group that includes Bank of America (BAC), E*Trade (ETFC), Goldman Sachs (GS) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM).

It's not clear yet if the acquisition of the tiny Chicago Stock Exchange will face any political hurdles. Some prominent lawmakers opposed the attempted takeover of NYSE in 2011 by Deutsche Boerse, (DBOEF) a German company. That deal later collapsed and NYSE was acquired by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) in 2012.

The Chicago Stock Exchange is "such a small player. It's certainly not as iconic as the New York Stock Exchange," said Joel Hasbrouck, a finance professor at New York University.

There is precedent for foreign ties to U.S. exchanges. For instance, in 2007 Nasdaq merged with OMX, a Nordic exchange, becoming Nasdaq OMX Group. It has since changed its name back to Nasdaq.

Still, Joe Saluzzi, co-head of trading at Themis Trading and author of "Broken Markets," said the fact that a foreign entity could soon control a U.S. exchange may raise security concerns.

"Does foreign ownership open up any potential for information leakage to someone who can take advantage of it? As an investor, I would raise an eyebrow," Saluzzi said.

"As long as the information is secure, I don't have any problem with it," he said.

China has been on a buying spree this year. Its largest deal was a $43 billion takeover of Swiss chemicals giant Sygenta earlier this week. So far in 2016, Chinese companies have announced plans to buy 66 foreign companies worth $68 billion, according to Dealogic.
Sayena Mostowfi, head of equities research at TABB, said the Chicago Stock Exchange deal represents a vote of confidence in the U.S. stock market.

"We have one of the most liquid and efficient stock markets in the world. People are looking at us as a model they want to be part of and invest in," she said.

--CNNMoney's Sophia Yan contributed to this report. 


CNNMoney (New York)
First published February 5, 2016: 2:29 PM ET





Related: China is buying foreign firms at a record rate
http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/03/investing/china-buying-foreign-companies-record/index.html?iid=EL

Related: Cash is way more popular than stocks or bonds
http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/05/investing/cash-more-popular-than-stocks-bonds/index.html?iid=EL

[space otter]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/china-south-china-sea-missiles_us_56c3bafde4b0b40245c8657f
? 02/16/2016 07:27 pm ET
Reuters

China Sends Missiles To Contested South China Sea Island: REPORT

Satellite images show the deployment of a surface-to-air missile system to Woody Island, Fox News reports.



DigitalGlobe/ScapeWare3d via Getty Images
 

WASHINGTON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - The Chinese military has deployed an advanced surface-to-air missile system to one of its contested islands in the South China Sea, Fox News reported on Tuesday, citing civilian satellite imagery.

The images, from ImageSat International, show two batteries of eight surface-to-air missile launchers as well as a radar system on Woody Island, part of the Paracel Island chain in the South China Sea, according to Fox News.

Woody Island is also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam.

Bill Urban, a Pentagon spokesman, said: "While I cannot comment on matters related to intelligence, we do watch these matters very closely."

The report comes as U.S. President Barack Obama and leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations concluded a summit in California.

At a news conference following the summit, Obama said he and the Southeast Asian leaders discussed the need to ease tensions in the South China Sea, and they agreed that any territorial disputes there should be resolved peacefully and through legal means.

A U.S. Navy destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island in the Paracel chain last month in a move the Pentagon said was aimed at countering efforts by China, Vietnam and Taiwan to limit freedom of navigation. China condemned the U.S. action as provocative.

The missiles arrived at Woody Island over the past week, Fox News said. According to the images, a beach on the island was empty on Feb. 3, but the missiles were visible by Feb. 14, it reported.

A U.S. official confirmed the accuracy of the photos, Fox News said.

The official said the imagery viewed appears to show the HQ-9 air defense system, which has a range of 125 miles (200 km) and would pose a threat to any airplanes, civilian or military, flying close by, according to Fox News.

Over the weekend, The Diplomat magazine reported that China was building a helicopter base at Duncan Island in the Paracel chain.

A State Department spokeswoman responded to the Diplomat report by calling on all claimants to the islands to halt construction and militarization of outposts. (Writing by Eric Beech; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

[space otter]

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35844773
18 March 2016

China's Anbang closes in on Starwood Hotels

Chinese insurer Anbang is set to acquire Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide for $78 (£54) per share in cash, or about $13bn in total.

Starwood said it would terminate a deal to be bought by Marriott International, after it received a superior proposal from a group led by Anbang.

Marriott and Starwood had agreed to merge in November in a $12bn deal to create the world's largest hotel chain.

But the Anbang-led consortium has now outbid Marriott for Starwood.

Marriott now has five days to decide whether to put in a counter-bid.




Chinese firms have been buying overseas assets, despite their country's slowing economy.

Mainland investors have been snapping up prime US properties and other overseas assets to diversify their holdings amid concerns about weakness in China's economy.

Anbang bought New York's famous Waldorf-Astoria from Blackstone for a record $1.95bn last year.

And earlier this week, it agreed to buy a US luxury hotel collection from private equity giant Blackstone for a reported $6.5bn (£4.5bn).

The Beijing-based company also owns office buildings in New York and Canada and a South Korean insurance company.

[space otter]

geese..i say   let 'em have the gmo stuff


http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/in-a-midwestern-cornfield-a-scene-of-chinese-theft-and-espionage/ar-BBrDRvD?li=BBnb7Kz
Christian Science Monitor
Josh Kenworthy
4 hrs ago

In a Midwestern cornfield, a scene of Chinese theft and espionage

United States law enforcement agencies are a urging farmers and businesses more broadly to be increasingly vigilant amid a rise in attempted thefts of genetically engineered seed and other commercial secrets.

Mo Hailong, one of six Chinese nationals US authorities accused in 2013 of digging up seeds from Iowa farms with plans to send them back to China, pleaded guilty in January, according to Reuters. Mr. Mo had his case prosecuted by the Justice Department as a matter of national security rather than a normal criminal case.

The FBI and Justice Department has reported a growing number of agricultural espionage cases in the past two years, including government research facilities, companies and research facilities. While the FBI says it knows of connections between the accused individuals and the Chinese government, it does not have evidence to prove the link that would stand up in court. The Chinese government denies it is involved.

The trend particularly highlights how highly coveted and vulnerable advanced food technology secrets are, particularly in China where 1.36 billion of earth's roughly 7 billion person population lives, Reuters said. However, while the Chinese government has indicated it wants to be a leader in the biotechnology world, there is also evidence to suggest this may be stymied by Chinese consumer wariness about the yet unknown problems that could stem from the consumption of genetically modified food.
"Consumer resistance could present a major obstacle for President Xi Jinping, who wants China to be 'bold' in embracing biotechnology and transforming domestic farming. After decades of gains, crops yields in China have flattened, and the government fears becoming overly dependent on imported food if agriculture isn't adequately modernized. They see engineered crops – mainly wheat, rice, and corn – as a way to increase productivity and possibly reduce use of fertilizers and pesticides," wrote Stuart Leavenworth for The Monitor earlier this year.
US senators recently called for a review of state-owned ChemChina's $43 billion deal to buy Swiss seed group Syngenta, which generates nearly a quarter of its revenue from North America. From the Chinese government's point of view, such a deal would ease its concerns that foreign companies would control the supply of GM food in China.

However, Carl Pray, a Rutgers University economist who specializes in Chinese agriculture, told the Monitor that "it may not ease the concerns of consumers who are largely focused on food safety."

Agribusiness giant Monsanto says if the Chinese were to acquire GMO seeds and recreate a corn plant it would allow Chinese companies to bypass around eight years of research, which costs the company roughly $1.5 billion per year, Reuters reported.

This article contains material from Reuters.

This article was written by Josh Kenworthy from Christian Science Monitor and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.

[robomont]

imho.china will be the foundation economy of the future.
peggy may not be familiar but i have a thread about apophis and yellowstone going off.
china will be set better than anybody.
i see the world acting in concert and all is planned accordingly.
the rest is just to keep the chimps minds active.
a brief synopsis,
weather weapons create quakes then set off yellowstone.ww3 then iceage.middle east gets mile thick ice sheet then apophis hits in 2036.great melt and mud.then back to business.
maybe new north pole.

[astr0144]

Update...rather than delete once I posted..The post that I just made below, may be disinfo after someone suggested it maybe after I posted ...but I have not checked it out..

Someone I follow posted this that I think has ref to Yellowstone.

I have not watched it as yet...but they made the comments below..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_V10K6B8X4&feature=share


hot information as usual volcano fissure FEMA alert location north Dakota, by west of lake Michigan besides dept of interior at the white house by Omaha west point generals involved black cell nukes set off near underground DUMB in Virginia bullet train tunnels 2013. Carolina nuke set off Carolina coast. evacuations. airport Denver. Yellowstone area and 80 DUMBS were destroyed with lava fillings killing numerous people callpepper hub. why people are hearing strange sounds and shakings, Trans Atlantic tunnels under the oceans, under mikmak indian territory.

imho.china will be the foundation economy of the future.
peggy may not be familiar but i have a thread about apophis and yellowstone going off.
china will be set better than anybody.
i see the world acting in concert and all is planned accordingly.
the rest is just to keep the chimps minds active.
a brief synopsis,
weather weapons create quakes then set off yellowstone.ww3 then iceage.middle east gets mile thick ice sheet then apophis hits in 2036.great melt and mud.then back to business.
maybe new north pole.

[space otter]

i think the three are playing chicken with each other..china-russia-usa....idiots.!


http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/china-scrambles-fighters-as-us-sails-warship-near-chinese-claimed-reef/ar-BBsQyNU?li=BBnb7Kz
Reuters
Michael Martina
2 hrs ago

China scrambles fighters as U.S. sails warship near Chinese-claimed reef

© (AP Photo/Cliff Owen) A photograph showing an island that China is building on the Fiery Cross Reef in the South China Sea is displayed by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Az., during the committee's hearing on...


BEIJING/HONG KONG, May 10 (Reuters) - China scrambled fighter jets on Tuesday as a U.S. navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the South China Sea, a patrol China denounced as an illegal threat to peace which only went to show its defense installations in the area were necessary.

Guided missile destroyer the USS William P. Lawrence traveled within 12 nautical miles of Chinese-occupied Fiery Cross Reef, U.S. Defense Department spokesman, Bill Urban said.

The so-called freedom of navigation operation was undertaken to "challenge excessive maritime claims" by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam which were seeking to restrict navigation rights in the South China Sea, Urban said.

"These excessive maritime claims are inconsistent with international law as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention in that they purport to restrict the navigation rights that the United States and all states are entitled to exercise," Urban said in an emailed statement.

China and the United States have traded accusations of militarizing the South China Sea as China undertakes large-scale land reclamations and construction on disputed features while the United States has increased its patrols and exercises.

Facilities on Fiery Cross Reef include a 3,000-meter (10,000-foot) runway which the United States worries China will use it to press its extensive territorial claims at the expense of weaker rivals.

China's Defence Ministry said two fighter jets were scrambled and three warships shadowed the U.S. ship, telling it to leave.

The U.S. patrol "again proves that China's construction of defensive facilities on the relevant reefs in the Nansha Islands is completely reasonable and totally necessary," it said, using China's name for the Spratly Islands where much of its reclamation work is taking place.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the U.S. ship illegally entered Chinese waters.

"This action by the U.S. side threatened China's sovereignty and security interests, endangered the staff and facilities on the reef, and damaged regional peace and stability," he told a daily news briefing.

SENSITIVE AREA

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims.

The Pentagon last month called on China to reaffirm it has no plans to deploy military aircraft in the Spratly Islands after China used a military plane to evacuate sick workers from Fiery Cross.

"Fiery Cross is sensitive because it is presumed to be the future hub of Chinese military operations in the South China Sea, given its already extensive infrastructure, including its large and deep port and 3000-meter runway," said Ian Storey, a South China Sea expert at Singapore's ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute.

"The timing is interesting, too. It is a show of U.S. determination ahead of President Obama's trip to Vietnam later this month."

Speaking in Vietnam, Daniel Russel, assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, said freedom of navigation operations were important for smaller nations.

"If the world's most powerful navy cannot sail where international law permits, then what happens to the ships of navy of smaller countries?," Russel told reporters before news of the operation was made public.

China has reacted with anger to previous U.S. freedom of navigation operations, including the overflight of fighter planes near the disputed Scarborough Shoal last month, and when long-range U.S. bombers flew near Chinese facilities under construction on Cuarteron Reef in the Spratlys last November.

U.S. naval officials believe China has plans to start reclamation and construction activities on Scarborough Shoal, which sits further north of the Spratlys within the Philippines claimed 200 nautical mile (370 km) exclusive economic zone.

A tough-talking city mayor, Rodrigo Duterte, looks set to become president of the Philippines after an election on Monday. He has proposed multilateral talks on the South China Sea.

A Chinese diplomat warned last week that criticism of China over the South China Sea would rebound like a coiled spring.

[space otter]

yeah , i know unless trupm says it .. it's all fake news

are you getting the idea yet of who's in charge and how much shi t we are in


http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/china-warns-of-n-korea-conflict-at-any-moment/ar-BBzPBno?li=BBnb7Kz

China warns of N. Korea conflict 'at any moment'
AFP AFP
3 hrs ago

A conflict over North Korea could break out "at any moment", China said Friday, warning there would be no winner in any war as tensions soar with the United States.

The sharp language came after US President Donald Trump said the North Korea problem "will be taken care of", as speculation mounts the reclusive state could be preparing another nuclear or missile test.

Trump has sent an aircraft carrier-led strike group to the Korean peninsula to press his point, one of a series of measures that indicate his willingness to shake up foreign policy strategy.

"Lately, tensions have risen... and one has the feeling that a conflict could break out at any moment," Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said.

"If a war occurs, the result is a situation in which everybody loses and there can be no winner."

there's more to the article but i know no one wants to read more


Trump's loose nukes talk: Our view - USA Today
www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/01/...trump-nuclear-weapons.../95927136/
Jan 5, 2017 - It's hard to imagine an American leader boasting about his willingness to unleash a nuclear weapons race — and doing it on the phone with a ...
Donald Trump's Call for 'Arms Race' Boggles Nuclear Experts - NBC ...
www.nbcnews.com/.../trump-tweets-apparent-call-more-us-nuclear-weapons-n699221
Dec 23, 2016 - His tweet seemed to signal a break with decades of presidential actions ... of nuclear weapons or launchers, he told NBC News in an interview.
Trump: US must be 'top of the pack' on nuclear weapons - CNNPolitics ...


www.cnn.com/2017/02/24/politics/trump-interview-nuclear-weapons/
Feb 24, 2017 - In an interview with the Reuters news agency, Trump said he would prefer a world free of nuclear weapons but otherwise the United States ...
9 terrifying things Donald Trump has publicly said about nuclear ...


https://thinkprogress.org/9-terrifying-things-donald-trump-has-publicly-said-about-nu...
Aug 4, 2016 - Trump said he might use nuclear weapons and questioned why we would make them if ... Presidents don't talk about use of nuclear weapons"?
Trump's position on nukes endangers America and the world ...


www.businessinsider.com/trump-nuclear-weapons-expansion-risk-2017-1
Jan 4, 2017 - trump nuclear weapons getty shutterstock business insider .... Using Minuteman III system as one example, he wrote for The New Yorker:.