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BEIJING, Aug 6 (Reuters) - China's decision to join international talks in Saudi Arabia this weekend seeking to end Russia's war in Ukraine signals possible shifts in Beijing's approach but not a U-turn in its support for Moscow, analysts say. "Beijing will not want to be absent from other credible peace initiatives that are led by non-Western countries." China did not attend the talks in Copenhagen in late June, despite being invited and having proposed its own 12-point plan for peace. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called Li's involvement a "considerable breakthrough", according to Ukrainian media. While China's move was good for its image, Singapore-based analyst Li Mingjiang said Beijing would be looking to fine-tune its positions.

Persons: Yun Sun, Li Hui, Xi Jinping, Qin, Vladimir Putin, Dmytro Kuleba, Shen Dingli, Shen, China's, Li Mingjiang, Li, Geng Shuang, Moritz Rudolf, Yale Law School's Paul Tsai, Laurie Chen, Martin Quin Pollard, Greg Torode, William Mallard Organizations: NATO, Stimson, Qin Gang, People's Liberation Army Rocket Force, U.S, Ukrainian, Rajaratnam, of International Studies, United Nations, Security, Yale Law, Yale Law School's Paul Tsai China Center, Thomson Locations: BEIJING, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Moscow, Beijing, Denmark, Russia, China, Washington, Jeddah, Copenhagen, Shanghai, Singapore

☆ Xi’s Surprise Shake-Up Exposes Problems at Top of China’s Nuclear Force
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Chris Buckley | More About Chris Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the years since China’s leader, Xi Jinping, transformed the People’s Liberation Army, one of his crowning creations has been the Rocket Force, the custodian of China’s expanding nuclear arsenal. But this week, Mr. Xi abruptly replaced the Rocket Force’s two top commanders with outsiders with no experience in the nuclear force. The shake-up in the rocket force indicated that the force’s expansion has been accompanied by serious problems in its top ranks. Suspicions of corruption or disloyalty to Mr. Xi may slow or complicate China’s upgrade of its conventional and nuclear missiles, several experts said. “I imagine this could disrupt the modernization,” said David C. Logan, an assistant professor at the Fletcher School of Tufts University who studies the Rocket Force and China’s nuclear weapons modernization.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Xi’s, Xi, Qin Gang, “, ”, David C Organizations: People’s Liberation Army, Rocket Force, Fletcher School of Tufts University Locations: China, Logan

The announcement was the first time either of the two – who had both been in military positions outside the Rocket Force – were named as the force’s leadership. Beijing gave no reason for the change, making the case yet another example of the lack of transparency in China’s political system. The newly appointed Rocket Force leadership both previously held deputy positions in other parts of the military. New missile silosThe leadership change comes as evidence points to an expanding Chinese nuclear force – creating an even more important role for the Rocket Force, which until 2016 was known as the PLA Second Artillery Force. They are responsible for handling and delivering China’s nuclear weapons,” said Drew Thompson, a senior research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Wang Houbin, Xu Xisheng, Li Yuchao, Qin Gang, Li, Xu Zhongbo, Xu, China’s, ”, Yun Sun, Li Gang, Xi, “, Qin, Wang Yi, Carl Schuster, “ Xi, ” Schuster, Wang, Neil Thomas, Roderick Lee, Drew Thompson, Lee, ” Thompson Organizations: CNN, Liberation Army Rocket Force, Rocket Force, Xinhua, Communist Party, Stimson, Communist Party’s, Military Commission, People’s Liberation Army, PLA, Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center, PLA Navy, Southern Theater Command, Asia Society, Center for, USAF Air University China Aerospace Studies, ” CNN, China’s Ministry of Defense, PLA Second Artillery Force, US Defense Department, Lee Kuan Yew, of Public, National University of Singapore, “ Locations: China, Suzhou, Taiwan, Washington, Beijing, Xinhua, Hawaii, Center for China, United States

☆ Xi appoints new chief of China's nuclear arsenal
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Until his move to the PLA Rocket Force, Wang had been deputy commander of the navy since 2020. State media did not say where the PLA Rocket Force's previous chief, Li Yuchao, was reassigned or state his whereabouts. Xi has repeatedly urged the military to deepen war and combat planning to increase the chances of victory in actual combat to safeguard China's sovereignty and territory. China says it is committed to a defensive nuclear strategy, and pledges to no first use of nuclear weapons. It says it will also not use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states or nuclear weapon free zones.

Persons: Jason Lee, Xi Jinping, Wang Houbin, Xu Xisheng, Wang, Xu, Li Yuchao, Xi, Ryan Woo, Alex Richardson Organizations: Military, People's, REUTERS, People's Liberation Army, PLA Rocket Force, Navy, Southern Theatre Command, PLA, Thomson Locations: People's Republic of China, Beijing, China, BEIJING

☆ Fact Check-Video of people evacuating a beach dates to 2021, not related to Israel-Palestine unrest in May, 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

“Rocket sirens going off in Tel Aviv earlier today. People on the beach running to shelters” read one post sharing the video on Facebook on May 11, 2023 (here). While Reuters could not verify the source of the video, it can be traced back to at least 2021 when it was shared as showing the Tel Aviv beach (here). The video appears to match buildings and constructions on the beach viewable on Google Street View of Aviv Beach (bit.ly/3VZMLB5). Video dates back to 2021 and is unrelated to the escalation of violence in May, 2023 between Israel and Palestine.

☆ In pictures: Turkey's landmark elections
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Jillian Kumagai | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Israel killed the head of Islamic Jihad's rocket force and his deputy, pressing an operation that has cost 30 lives in Gaza including women and children, while Palestinian cross-border rocket salvoes inflicted a first fatality in Israel on Thursday.

☆ Son of Vladimir Putin's spokesman says he served with Wagner in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

MOSCOW, April 23 (Reuters) - The son of Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said in an interview published on Saturday that he had served in Ukraine under an assumed name as an artilleryman in the Wagner mercenary force, the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper reported. Nikolai Peskov, the 33-year-old son of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, told the privately-owned newspaper that he had served in Ukraine, a rare, public example of the son of a senior Russian official fighting in the war. "It was on my initiative," Peskov, whose father has served as Putin's spokesman since 2008, said in an interview. Wagner's founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said Dmitry Peskov had approached him and asked him to take his son on as an artilleryman. Peskov told him that he would not be going anywhere and would solve the situation at a different level, according to a recording of the call posted online.

REUTERS/Tyrone SiuTAIPEI, March 13 (Reuters) - Taiwan's defence spending this year will focus on preparing weapons and equipment for a "total blockade" by China, including parts for F-16 fighters and replenishing weapons, the military said in a report. Xi also said that when it came to Taiwan, China must oppose pro-independence and secessionist activities and the interference of external forces. Taiwan's defence ministry said China has systematically increased the strength of its "joint combat readiness" actions around Taiwan. That is more than double the number from a year earlier and poses a "substantial threat" to Taiwan's defence, the ministry said. China has been "normalising" no-navigation zones around the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea and the Taiwan Strait, the ministry added.

☆ A new Pentagon map shows how China is beefing up what a top US general calls its 'dangerous position' in the South China Sea
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Benjamin Brimelow | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

China and several of its neighbors have claimed parts of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. The map also gives rough locations for seven Chinese outposts, including three airfields, and 63 other outposts in the Spratlys. China's outposts "are capable of supporting military operations" and "have supported non-combat aircraft," the Pentagon report says. Recent action by those forces around Taiwan, as well as ongoing Chinese activity in the South China Sea, have worried US commanders. The Spratly IslandsFilipino fishermen sail by a Chinese coast guard ship near Scarborough Shoal on February 5.

The following are details of Russia's nuclear arsenal, how big it is and who commands it. NUCLEAR SUPERPOWERRussia, which inherited the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons, has the world's biggest store of nuclear warheads. Around 1,500 of those warheads are retired (but probably still intact), 2889 are in reserve and around 1588 are deployed strategic warheads. The United States has around 1644 deployed strategic nuclear warheads. The Russian president is the ultimate decision maker when it comes to using Russian nuclear weapons, both strategic and non-strategic, according to Russia's nuclear doctrine.

☆ Factbox: Russia's nuclear arsenal: how big and who controls it?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Guy Faulconbridge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

What is Russia's nuclear arsenal, how big is it and who commands it? NUCLEAR SUPERPOWERRussia, which inherited the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons, has the world's biggest store of nuclear warheads. Around 1,500 of those warheads are retired (but probably still intact), 2889 are in reserve and around 1588 are deployed strategic warheads. The United States has around 1644 deployed strategic nuclear warheads. The Russian president is the ultimate decision maker when it comes to using Russian nuclear weapons, both strategic and non-strategic, according to Russia's nuclear doctrine.

Each new B-21 is pegged at roughly $729.25 million, and the U.S. Air Force expects to procure at least 100 of them. Factoring in inflation, it’s half the price of the exorbitantly expensive B-2 stealth bomber it’s meant to replace. Factoring in inflation, it’s half the price of the exorbitantly expensive B-2 stealth bomber it’s meant to replace. (China’s military grasps the benefit of long-range stealth bombers in the Pacific context and is developing its own Raider-like stealth bomber intended to expand its strike range.) That isn’t to say the Raider program should be written a blank check.

☆ Xi’s ‘action men’ now lead China’s military. Here’s what that means for Taiwan
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Brad Lendon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The rhetoric from both sides and Beijing’s recent maneuvers have stoked fears that an attempted Chinese military takeover of Taiwan could be next on the horizon. Besides that joint command experience, He possesses another key attribute sought in top PLA leadership – field experience in hostile situations. Carl Schuster, a former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center, said He was one of Xi’s “action men” on the military commission. Zhang served on the previous military commission and has been retained and promoted despite being past the unofficial retirement age of 68. There’s just too much work to be done with Xi’s military modernization to achieve good odds of success, they said.

Persons: Xi Jinping’s, Xi, –, Tsai Ing, ”, James Char, ” Char, Weidong, Nancy Pelosi, Rod Lee, Lee, Xi Jinping, ” Lee, Carl Schuster, Zhang Youxia, Zhang, Xi’s, Meia Nouwens, Joel Wuthnow, he’s, ” Wuthnow, Zhang’s, Li Shangfu, Wuthnow, There’s, “, Char Organizations: CNN, Central Military Commission, Communist Party’s National, People’s Liberation Army, PLA, Chinese Communist Party, China Program, Institute of Defense, Strategic Studies, Theater Command, Eastern Theater Command, US Air Force Air, China Aerospace Studies Institute, People’s Armed Police, Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center, International Institute for Strategic Studies, Center, Chinese Military Affairs, US National Defense University, Party, US Air University Locations: China, Taiwan, Beijing, Taiwan Strait, Asia, Singapore, India

☆ Analysis: What is Russia's policy on tactical nuclear weapons?
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Guy Faulconbridge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

WHAT ARE TACTICAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS? Academics and arms control negotiators have spent years arguing about how to define tactical nuclear weapons (TNW). The clue is in the name: they are nuclear weapons used for specific tactical gains on the battlefield, rather than, say, destroying the biggest cities of the United States or Russia. The atomic bomb dropped by the United States on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945 was about 15 kilotons. The president is the ultimate decision maker when it comes to using Russian nuclear weapons, both strategic and non-strategic, according to Russia's nuclear doctrine.

☆ Analysis: Xi's new generals face tough military challenges post-congress
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( Greg Torode | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Now come the tricky next steps for his Central Military Commission: implementing sweeping changes to its leadership, which commands China's two million-strong People's Liberation Army, potentially tightening Xi's grip over the military and its modernisation. Among those expected to step down are the body's vice chairmen, Generals Xu Qiliang and Zhang Youxia, both 72. Diplomatic challenges are also mounting, as China's military modernisation confronts the traditional U.S. strategic dominance in East Asia. Who is chosen could shed light on Xi's military priorities. "There is no shortage of senior military officers who internally parrot Xi's 'fight and win' mantra, but the conundrum for the PLA is the lack of operational experience," said Alexander Neill, a private military analyst.

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