|
China Reform Monitor
No. 487, March 3, 2003
American Foreign Policy Council, Washington, D.C.
China's electronic spy bases in Cuba;
India-China border tension
Editor:
Al Santoli
-
- February
15:
-
- India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh urged the federal government to improve roads and infrastructure along the border with China to meet potential security threats, reports Agence France-Presse. The mountainous state shares a 650-mile unmarked border with China - known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC) - parts of which are disputed. The Arunachal Pradesh government has been warning New Delhi about Chinese troops making forays across the border and is urging the proper demarcation of the border to prevent confrontation. The plea comes amid reports of Chinese road construction along the border with Arunachal Pradesh.
India and China fought a bitter border war in 1962. Tensions flared again in 1986 with Indian and Chinese forces clashing in Arunachal Pradesh's Sumdorong Chu valley. Delhi says China still holds 16,000 square miles of its territory in Kashmir, while Beijing lays claim to a wide swathe of territory in Arunachal Pradesh. China has also begun a controversial 650-mile railway project, the first rail link between China proper with Tibet, which currently is only accessible by air or undeveloped roads. The Tibetan government-in-exile has warned that China's controversial plan could impact India's national and economic security.
Reuters reports that the recently-released "2003 World Report" by the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch found China implemented "highly repressive policies" in 2002, using the global war on terror and as an excuse to abuse its citizens especially in Tibet and the Muslim Xinjiang region.
- February
27:
-
Fidel Castro has begun a 5-day visit to China, where he is receiving a warm welcome from the Chinese Communist Party's top leaders, reports the
Australian Age. While China has replaced the Soviet Union as Cuba's top trading partner, Castro provides China with its most significant electronic spy base near the United States. Professor Desmond Ball of the Australian National University says Chinese personnel have been operating two intelligence signal stations in Cuba since early 1999, after an agreement reached in February 1998. The large complex at Bejucal, just south of Havana, is equipped with 10 satellite communications antennas and is mainly concerned with intercepting telephone communications in the U.S. A "cyber warfare" unit is also based at Bejucal.
The second station is located north-east of Santiago de Cuba, reportedly dedicated to intercepting satellite-based U.S. military communications. "China is actively and extensively engaged in the whole realm of signals intelligence, electronic warfare and cyber warfare activities," Professor Ball said, adding that the Beijing regime maintains "by far the most extensive signals intelligence capabilities of all the countries in Asia." The Chinese military also maintains a fleet of specialized ships and aircraft for mobile interception operations. Equipment comes from Russia and Israel, as well as domestic laboratories.
China has been conducting cyber warfare exercises since 1997. Computer viruses have been used to disrupt military communications and public broadcasts, with targets including Japan, India, South Korea and Taiwan. The military effort is augmented by individual hackers in China, whose feats have included crashing the White House web site.
Copyright
� 2003, American Foreign Policy Council.
All Rights Reserved.
|
