Thursday, January 13, 2011

Confucius in Tiananmen

Confucius shows up on Tiananmen Square

In this Wednesday photo, Chinese paramilitary policemen stands guard in front of a sculpture of the ancient philosopher Confucius on displayed in near the Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China's capital. Photo: AP.

There’s a new face keeping Chairman Mao company on Tiananmen Square.

A mammoth sculpture of the ancient philosopher Confucius was unveiled this week off one side of the vast plaza. It’s a juxtaposition for a square the ruling Communist Party treats as politically hallowed ground- a mausoleum holding revolutionary leader Mao Zedong’s body sits in the middle and his giant portrait hangs at one end.

Placing the statue at China’s political heart is the government’s most visible endorsement yet of the 2,500-year-old sage and, selectively, his teachings.

Confucius is enjoying a revival, in books and films, on TV and in classrooms. His message of harmonious social order and deference to authority is unthreatening to the party, while his emphasis on ethics resonates among Chinese coping with fast-paced social change on the back of torrid economic growth.

The government is increasingly marshalling his popularity to bolster national identity. “The rise of a big country requires a cultural foundation, and Chinese culture upholds the spirit of harmony,” said Wu Weishan, the sculptor, who has made more than 200 statues of the philosopher. “The essential thoughts of Confucius are love, kindness, wisdom and generosity. And peace and prosperity are what the people are striving for.”

The 31-foot (9.5-meter) bronze sculpture depicts a robed Confucius with a serious expression and sits on the east side of the square, facing in the direction of Mao’s portrait and amid the bustle of Beijing. Chinese tourists busily snapped photos and agreed that Confucius’ teachings bear a message for modern China. “Confucianism has been governing the lives and ethics of Chinese for thousands of years,” said 25-year-old engineer Cui Xiaozhan, on a business trip from the eastern city of Qingdao. “We should study it. But everyone is too busy and tired.”

Confucius laid down a code of ethics that was adopted as a quasi-religious national philosophy of governance and personal behaviour. His teachings emphasized duty to family, respect for learning, virtuous behaviour and obedience of individuals to the state.

Confucius comeback continues with Tiananmen statue

BEIJING (AFP) – China has unveiled a statue of Confucius on Tiananmen Square -- the latest sign of the ancient philosopher's comeback after decades in which his teachings were suppressed by Mao Zedong.
The 7.9-metre (26-feet) tall statue stands at an entrance to China's National Museum, which fronts Tiananmen Square and its communist monuments such as late revolutionary leader Mao's tomb in the heart of the capital.

The teachings of China's most famous philosopher, who was born in 551 BC, centred on peace, harmony and each citizen's duty to respect their superiors.

They became a virtual state religion but were denounced as feudal and banned under Mao's communist regime, particularly during the icon-smashing years of the radical Cultural Revolution.

The 1966-76 mass political movement against "old" ways and thinking was originally launched by Mao in a bid to neutralise potential political rivals.

But Confucius' teachings have enjoyed an officially-sanctioned rehabilitation under the current Communist Party leadership amid the wholesale abandonment of Maoist thought.

The new statue faces across Beijing's main thoroughfare toward the Forbidden City, the former Chinese imperial home, where a huge portrait of Mao hangs over the complex's entrance.

The National Museum, which is on the east side of the square, has been closed for more than three years for a major renovation. Media reports said it could reopen this year.

The Beijing Daily newspaper quoted an unnamed official as saying the statue was erected this week to recognise Confucius' status as a "symbol of traditional Chinese culture and a calling card of Chinese culture".
With government support, Confucius institutes have been established around the world with the aim of promoting the Chinese language and culture.

In 2009, a Confucius biopic backed by the government was released to coincide with National Day on October 1, which that year marked the 60th anniversary of Mao's 1949 declaration of the People's Republic of China.

Last September, Chinese officials in Beijing marked the philosopher's birthday at a ceremony in a Confucian temple, the first time it was celebrated in the capital since at least 1949.

Related article:

Confucius Institutes - 5th Conference opens in Beijing

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

China set to be No. 1 in 2018 by PPP rank: PwC

China will overtake the United States as the largest economy as early as 2018 on purchasing power parity as the financial crisis accelerates the shift in economic power to emerging economies, a PricewaterhouseCoopers report said yesterday.

Measuring gross domestic product at PPP, which factors price differences of the same goods across countries, the report disclosed the combined GDP of the seven biggest developing economies will exceed that of the Group of 7, making up the world's largest industrialized economies, before 2020.

China and India will lead the growth of the "Emerging Seven."

The accountancy firm also counts Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey as the other members of the E7. These emerging economies have been leading the world out of the global slump caused by the financial crisis in developed nations, with China replacing Japan as the second-largest economy last year.

If based on GDP at market exchange rates, the shift in the economic world order is slower, but still inevitable, with the E7 slated to overtake the G7 around 2032. China would also overtake the US that year to become the biggest economy in the world based on MER, PwC said. Using MER does not correct for price differences.

China's economy is, however, expected to slow progressively after 2020 due to its significantly lower labor force growth because of its one child policy.

Despite this, China will remain an export powerhouse, with exporters moving steadily up the value chain to compete increasingly on quality rather than price.

Source: Shanghai Daily

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China's J-20 Stealth fighter maiden flight, Signal to Gates

Stealthy signal to Gates

Made In China by CHOW HOW BAN

It may or may not have been orchestrated but the fact was that news leaks of a Chinese-developed stealth fighter jets appeared just days before the Asian giant and the United States were to patch up a military spat.

CHINA’S stealth fighter jet stuns the world! So yells a newspaper seller to commuters on board a subway train in Beijing. Several men nearby snapped up the last few papers from the vendor and read the news with great interest.

China has many young and middle-aged military fanatics like these commuters, who can’t resist reading about their very own state-of-the-art jet.

The J-20 stealth jet, a fourth-generation fighter aircraft built by the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute, underwent ground tests at the institute’s airfield on Jan 5.

A Chinese military fan leaked images and a video, which he captured of the test run, on the Internet. The video also showed him and his friends celebrating the historic moment.

The images and video created a buzz in Chinese cyberspace and media, with the entire nation brimming with pride.

The foreign press especially, those from the United States, were alarmed that they might have underestimated Chinese military might and advancement in warfare technologies.

Coincidentally, the photos and videos of the J-20 jet surfaced four days before US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates arrived in Beijing for an official visit to patch up strained military ties between the United States and China.

Before leaving for China, Gates told reporters that some of China’s advances could eventually undermine traditional US military capabilities in the Pacific region.

“They clearly have the potential to put some of our capabilities at risk and we have to pay attention to them. We have to respond appropriately with our own programmes,” wire services quoted him as saying.

Former US Air Force Lt Gen Thomas Mclnerney commented on Foxnews.com that the Chinese had deliberately and very cleverly leaked their stealth fighter in time for Gates’ visit.

“This is another move by the Chinese to subtly send the current American administration as well as its Asian allies a signal that it is investing heavily in military capabilities that will dominate Asia in future,” he said.

Mclnerney said that discussions between the United States and China during Gates’ visit and that of Chinese President Hu Jintao to Washington from Jan 18 to Jan 21, would reveal that China’s vision of its future position in Asia was different from what the United States and its allies imagined.

Gates, who concluded his China trip on Wednesday, was told by his Chinese counterparts that China was indeed testing its stealth jet, but still lagged far behind the world’s most advanced armed forces in military technology.

A week after the news leaks, Chinese Defence Ministry Foreign Affairs Office deputy director Guan Youfei confirmed the test flight of the J-20 fighter jet, believed to be capable of matching the United States’ F-22 jet.

“The development of China’s military hardware is not aimed at any country or any specific target, and the timing for the test flight was a matter of routine working arrangements,” he told Xinhua agency.

He denied that the test flight was deliberately carried out to coincide with Gates’ visit.

After the talks, both the United States and China agreed to reduce any miscommunication and misunderstanding and to rebuild their relationship in the spirit of respect, mutual trust, equality and reciprocity. However, this is easier said than done in view of the complicated Sino-US relations.

China suspended ties with the US military last year and turned down an earlier visit by Gates last summer following US President Barack Obama administration’s decision in 2009 to sell US$6.4bil (RM19.53bil) worth arms to Taiwan, which is viewed by China as a renegade province.

China has also denounced US pressure on South-East Asian countries to solve territorial disputes in the South China Sea. It fears China’s anti-ship ballistic missiles could challenge its fleets.

The latest addition of the J-20 stealth jet had Chinese military fans excited. More fans went down to the southwest city of Chengdu to catch the jet’s maiden test flight on Tuesday.

“11.1.11 is a historic day and I will remember today!” a netizen said on a military fan forum. Another fan said that he could not help but watch the video of the maiden flight over and over again.

Another fan, Gao Long, said: “I cried after watching a documentary on China’s air force development. We have come a long way from the day we bought the MiG-15 jet. We have developed our fourth generation jet.”

Many fans said China was not hoping to go to war but would not be afraid to fight one if it came.

In an editorial, Global Times said although it might take a few more years for the prototype stealth aircraft to be ready for deployment, the invention would be a positive step in propelling China into the club of stealth jet owning nations.

“The development of the stealth jet may have surpassed the expectations of many but this will not be the biggest surprise in China’s pursuit to narrow the gap with Western powers. We hope there will be more surprises to come,” it said.

The newspaper said the United States should not panic nor consider China as a threat as a couple of weapons would not change the world.

“China has no intention to vie for hegemony. What China needs is more job opportunities and cheaper housing. The J-20 is just to create a secure environment for China so it can devote its wisdom and energy to solving domestic problems,” it added.

“The Chinese also need to keep a level head as a single fighter jet cannot protect their security interests. China should learn to win its neighbours’ hearts and make friends with all nations.”

Chengdu J-20 Chinese Stealth fighter maiden flight [Video and Pictures]

by Cavin Dsouza on January 12th, 2011

China’s first stealth fighter J-20, has reportedly made its first test flight, according to Chinese Reports. It was reported that China’s Stealth Fighter, J-20 made a 15-minute flight from 12:50 to 13:05 hrs in southwest China’s Chengdu city.
China has carried out the test flight of its advanced laser-evading stealth fighter J-20, according to media reports, perfectly timing the event to coincide with the visit of U.S Defense Secretary Robert Gates to the country.

New Photos and Video of Chengdu J-20 The Chinese Stealth Fighter Released

by Larkins Dsouza on January 9th, 2011

Aviation buffs are buzzing over blurry photographs that have been surfacing on Chinese military websites showing Beijing’s first stealth fighter jet, the Chengdu J-20 fighter. Chinese aviation fans say they have been snapping pics of the jet during recent taxi tests, with a first flight likely still weeks away.We have also managed to get the first video of this stealthy aircraft the ‘J-20′.

Threat analysis of Chengdu J-20 the chinese stealth fighter

by Pratik Sawerdekar on January 6th, 2011

China recently showed the world its latest fighter aircraft in a typical Chinese way with the Govt media denying it but allowing Chinese hobbyist to upload images of the aircraft on the internet. According to latest reports the aircraft is carrying high speed taxi run and is expected to take to the skies anytime. A Chinese stealth aircraft will definitely change the balance in the region in favor to an extent in favor of China. Before we can analyze the implications we first need to analyze the aircraft.

Comparing Chengdu J-20 with F-22, F-35 and Su-PAK FA or T-50

by Cavin Dsouza on January 4th, 2011

We have witnessed a lot about the Chinese Stealth fighter J-20, being developed by the Chinese Aircraft manufacturer Chengdu. The J-20 is a Fifth generation aircraft with stealth capabilities. Only time will tell if the J-20 will match the current stealth aircrafts or will be superior than them. The F-22 Raptor has proven technology and hence it has been speculated that most of the 5th generation aircrafts today are similar to the Raptor.

Chengdu J-20 China’s first stealth fighter takes to the skies

by Pratik Sawerdekar on December 30th, 2010

The latest buzz on Internet is that the China’s Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group is preparing to test its first stealth aircraft known to world as the J-XX and now official J-20.
According to enthusiasts living nearby, the aircraft has already done taxi run and top level officials are coming to the facility to witness the first flight. This comes as a surprise as both American and Russian think tanks had written off China. J-XX is Chinese competitor in the Fifth Generation race.

READ MORE..

Malaysian student is tops again in Singapore

By SHARIN SHAIK newsdesk@thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: For the third year in a row, a Malaysian has become a top scorer in the island republic, with Chia Pei Yun scoring 10 A1s in Singapore’s GCE O-level exams.

The 16-year-old student of the St Nicholas Girls’ School (SNGS) loves to read, practise handicraft and play the piano.

Chia, from Damansara Utama here, said she was a down-to-earth person and a “normal teenager” who was often on Facebook in her free time
.

All smiles: Pei Yun celebrating as she is recognised for being the top O-level student in Singapore.

The Asean scholar managed to score As in Mathematics, English, English Literature, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Huma-nities, Malay and Chinese.

According to Chia, she managed to achieve her excellent results through perseverance in revising throughout the year.

“This helped me relax when the exams approached,” she said in a telephone interview.

Chia said she was focused and determined in her journey towards achieving the position of top scorer in the GCE O-level exams.

“When I am away from home, I miss my family a lot but I do not let my feelings get in the way of my studies,” she added.

According to SNGS principal Chan Wan Siang, Chia was a hardworking girl who was always positive and willing to learn.

“Pei Yun loves music and was a level coordinator in the school choir,” she said.

Chan is proud at the school’s achievement in having top O-level scorers for three years in a row.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Teenagers elope and come home pregnant

Parents of pregnant girls resort to blackmail - Some parents demand money from boyfriends' families

By SHARIN SHAIK newsdesk@thestar.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: Girls as young as 14 are eloping with their boyfriends, some of them returning home pregnant.

Several parents of the pregnant underage girls are then demanding unreasonable compensation of up to tens of thousands of ringgit from the families of the boyfriends.

“In 2010, 16 cases of girls running away with their boyfriends were reported to the department,” said MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Michael Chong

“All these girls were aged between 14 and 19. In three of these cases, the girls came home pregnant.
“In some cases, distraught parents would blackmail the boyfriend’s family to avoid them being reported to the police.”

He said that in one case, the family of a pregnant 14-year-old girl demanded RM15,000 from the parents of her 17-year-old boyfriend.

Chong said that in such cases, both parties are responsible and parents should not have allowed their children to get into such situations in the first place.

Ooi Bee Poh, 48, who was at the press conference yesterday is another parent who is looking for her missing daughter.

Her youngest daughter Wong Choi Ting, 17, went missing after a visit from her boyfriend from Johor.
“She was supposed to send her boyfriend to the bus station after his two-day visit to our home,” said a distraught Ooi.

However, she was told by her second daughter that Choi Ting had packed her clothes and said she was leaving.

Ooi has not been able to contact her daughter since Dec 30 as her handphone has been switched off.
According to Chong, Choi Ting is just one of three cases reported in the past 10 days.

WikiLeaks and the Internet's Long War

Some historians like to talk about the "Long War" of the 20th century, a conflict spanning both world wars and the wars in Korea and Vietnam. They stress that this Long War was a single struggle over what kind of political system would rule the world - democracy, communism or fascism - and that what a war is fought over is often more important than the specifics of individual armies and nations.

The Internet, too, is embroiled in a Long War. The latest fighters on one side are Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, and the media-dubbed "hacker army" that has risen in his defense in the past week, staging coordinated attacks on government and corporate institutions that have stood in his way.

They come from a long tradition of Internet expansionists, who hold that the Web should remake the rest of the world in its own image. They believe that decentralized, transparent and radically open networks should be the organizing principle for all things in society, big and small.

On the other side are those who believe fundamentally that the world should remake the Web in its own image. This side believes that the Internet at its heart is simply a tool, something that should be shaped to serve the demands of existing institutions. Each side seeks to mold the technology and standards of the Web to suit its particular vision.

In this current conflict, the loose confederation of "hacktivists" who rallied in support of Assange in what they called Operation Payback, targeted MasterCard, PayPal, Visa and other companies with a denial-of-service attack, effectively preventing Web sites from operating. It's a global effort of often surprising scope; Dutch police said they arrested a 16-year-old last week suspected to be involved.

Their cause, from which Assange has publicly distanced himself, follows the simple logic of independence. One self-declared spokesperson for the "Anonymous" group doing battle for WikiLeaks explained its philosophy to the Guardian newspaper. "We're against corporations and government interfering on the Internet," said the 22-year-old, identified only as Coldblood. "We believe it should be open and free for everyone."

The battle between "Anonymous" and the establishment isn't the first in the Long War between media-dubbed "hackers" and institutions, and considering the conflict's progression is key to understanding where it will lead.

In the early 1980s, Richard Stallman, then an employee at MIT's artificial-intelligence lab, was denied permission to access and edit computer code for the lab's laser printer. Frustrated, he kicked off what he calls GNU, a massively collaborative project to create a free and sharable operating system. His efforts sparked a widespread movement challenging the restriction of access to software through patents. Supporters asserted that they had a right to control the code in their own computers.

The battle reached far beyond Stallman, eventually pitting corporations and patent-holders against this early generation of free-software advocates. The bulk of most software is still private, though open-source projects have gained popularity and even dominance in some arenas. Stallman continues to advocate for free software.

Another major milestone in the conflict arose in 1999, when Shawn Fanning launched Napster, allowing for seamless peer-to-peer sharing of content. The service ballooned, claiming more than 25 million users at its peak and resulting in mountains of copyrighted content flowing freely across the Web. The site was sued and shut down in 2001. However, the ensuing battle over copyright law drew a line between industry representatives, such as the Recording Industry Association of America, and the "hacker" advocates for the free flow of content.

Though Napster was forced to stop operating as a free service, the culture and innovation that it launched continued to grow. This led to the creation in 2001 of BitTorrent, a distributed and difficult-to-track peer-to-peer method of transferring large files.

Large-scale use of this technology emerged in 2003 in the form of the Pirate Bay, which indexes BitTorrent files en masse. The site's founders and operators, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Carl Lundstrom, Fredrik Neij and Peter Sunde, would emerge as the Assanges of this battle, permitting a massive and continuous leak of copyrighted content in the face of waves of police raids and lawsuits - persisting even beyond their eventual conviction on infringement charges in 2009.

The WikiLeaks fight is in the tradition of these conflicts, just on a much vaster scale. As the Internet has become an integral part of our everyday lives, narrow and technical questions about who gets to run and edit computer code have morphed first into battles over copyrighted content, and now into fights at the highest levels of government secrecy and corporate power. Assange's efforts to undermine the secrecy and control of established institutions - and the attacks his defenders have launched against MasterCard, a Swedish prosecutor and possibly Sarah Palin's political action committee - are the latest and highest form of a war that has been waged for decades.

So what is the future of this Long War?

In his recent book "The Master Switch," Columbia law professor Tim Wu makes the case that the Internet, on its most basic level, is just like any other communications medium. As such, we shouldn't be surprised to see consolidation and government control over the Web. It's true that most other media - movies, radio and television - have gone through phases of wild growth and experimentation, eventually settling into a pattern of consolidation and control.

Why should we expect any different of the Web? Is the arc of the Internet's Long War predetermined?

One key factor is embedded in the history of the Web and the many iterations of the Long War itself: The Internet has cultivated a public vested in its freedom. Each round of conflict draws in additional supporters, from hackers to the growing numbers of open-government activists and everyday users who believe, more and more, that the radical openness of the Web should set the pattern for everything.

As the battlefield has become more vast - from laser printer code to transparency in global diplomacy - the Internet's standing army continues to grow, and is spoiling for a fight.

By Tim Hwang

Tim Hwang is the founder of ROFLCon, a conference about Web culture and Internet celebrity, and a formerresearcher at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

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Monday, January 10, 2011

China -US seek to 'reduce misculation'

Sino-US militaries seek to 'reduce miscalculation'

By Li Xiaokun and Cheng Guangjin (China Daily) Updated: 2011-01-11 07:28

Defense Minister Liang Guanglie and US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates attend a welcome ceremony in Beijing on Monday. [Photo/Agencies]

China reiterates opposition to US arms sales to island

BEIJING - China and the United States on Monday agreed to jointly reduce the risk of "miscalculation" between the two powerful armed forces, as they restore military ties frayed by a massive US arms deal to Taiwan a year ago.

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China's military development poses no threat
Sino-US militaries seek to 'reduce miscalculation'

Gates, on China trip, to talk DPRK, Iran

Defense Minister Liang Guanglie, however, reiterated China's opposition to US arms sales to Taiwan, an issue which visiting US Defense Secretary Robert Gates sidestepped.

Liang and Gates, after a morning of talks, announced during a joint news conference at the headquarters of China's Central Military Commission that they agreed to explore ways to reduce "misunderstanding" and "miscalculation".

"We are in strong agreement that in order to reduce the chances of miscommunication, misunderstanding or miscalculation, it is important that our military-to-military ties are solid, consistent and not subject to shifting political winds," Gates told reporters.

Gates also invited the chief of the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) general staff to visit Washington in the first half of this year.

Liang said they had "agreed that sustained and reliable military-to-military contacts will help reduce misunderstanding and miscalculation".

Both sides should join hands in the spirit of "respect, mutual trust, equality and reciprocity" to ensure the healthy and steady development of the relationship, he added.

Liang said that Chief of General Staff of the PLA Chen Bingde will visit the US in the first half of 2011, adding that exchanges of high-level officials and between educational institutions will continue.

On US arms sales to Taiwan, Liang said they "severely damage China's core interests".

"China's position has been clear and consistent. We are against it," he told reporters.

"We do not want to see such things happen again. We do not want US weapon sales to Taiwan to further damage the relationship between China and the United States and the two nations' armed forces," Liang added.

Asked about reports that Taiwan is buying MGM140 ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems) surface-to-surface missiles from the US, Gates said the missiles are just for defense use, and were approved in 2008 by the Bush administration.

Yet he admitted US arms deals to Taiwan had hurt relations.

The two defense chiefs also denied their governments are entering an arms race.

Video: Sino-US militaries seek to 'reduce miscalculation'

US think tank member says 'China-US military relations lag far behind'

Liang admitted China had made progress in building its military might and had developed weapons to meet its sovereignty and security requirements.

But he said China's military technology lags far behind the world's most advanced armed forces and does not threaten any country.

China is still years behind US capabilities in radar-evading aircraft, and even by 2025 the US would still have far more of these aircraft than any other nation in the world, Gates said before arriving in Beijing.

He also explained that Washington's repeated joint exercises with Seoul in seas not far from China in 2010 and the current presence of three US aircraft carriers in that region is by no means targeted at Beijing but Pyongyang.

Major General Luo Yuan, with the PLA Academy of Military Sciences, said the MGM140 ATACMS missiles, with a maximum firing range of 300 km, are able to reach Chinese mainland coastal targets across the 170 km-wide Taiwan Straits.

"They are obviously offensive weapons in terms of their capability," said Luo.

He also said US arms sales to Taiwan violated its own promises to China.

The US pledged in a joint communiqu signed in 1982 that it will not pursue a long-term policy of arms sales to Taiwan, the scale of arms sales would not surpass the scale at the time when the two nations established formal diplomatic ties, and arms sales would be gradually decreased till the problem is finally solved.

"It has been 28 years since the communiqu was signed, but the US has yet to fulfil its commitments," said Luo.

Gates arrived in Beijing on Sunday evening. He also met Vice-Chairman of the Central Military Commission and Vice-President, Xi Jinping, on Monday.

Xi expressed the hope that military-to-military relations could move forward in a healthy and stable manner.

On Tuesday Gates will meet President Hu Jintao, who is scheduled to visit Washington later this month.

Tang Yingzi, Wang Chenyan, Xinhua and Reuters contributed to this story.

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Robert Gates in China: Beijing seeks to ease US fears

US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Chinese Minister of National Defense General Liang Guanglie in Beijing (10 Jan 2011)

China told the US its military growth was consistent with its increasing global role

China's defence minister has sought to play down the country's military build-up, after talks with US counterpart Robert Gates in Beijing.

Liang Guanglie insisted China posed no threat and was decades behind nations with more advanced technology.

Mr Gates is on a four-day trip to China to cool tensions before President Hu Jintao visits the US next week.

Military ties between the two countries were briefly suspended early last year over a US sale of arms to Taiwan.

Mr Liang and Mr Gates both told journalists after their meeting that they agreed strong military co-operation should continue and should not be affected by politics.

Mr Liang said Beijing remained concerned about US dealings in Taiwan, before seeking to reassure the US about China's military ambitions.

"The efforts that we place on the research and development of weapons systems are by no means targeted at any third country," he said.

He said China's military development was "entirely appropriate and consistent with China's rise as an economic and political power".

Mr Gates said both US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao "clearly believe that a more robust military-to-military relationship is important".

He said he was convinced that the Chinese military leaders were "as committed to fulfilling the mandate of our two presidents" as he was.

Mr Gates will travel to South Korea and Japan later in the week, with the issue of North Korea high on the agenda.

Watching closely

Days before Mr Gates landed in Beijing, websites published pictures apparently showing a working prototype of a Chinese stealth aircraft, invisible to radar.

China has not officially commented on the photos, but they have once again put the spotlight on China's military modernisation.

Photo apparently showing prototype of Chinese-made stealth bomber

Photos of a possible working prototype of a Chinese-made stealth aircraft were recently leaked

The US has the world's only operational stealth fighter, the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor.

In the run-up to the talks, Mr Gates said that the Chinese "clearly have potential to put some of our capabilities at risk".

"We have to pay attention to them, we have to respond appropriately with our own programmes."
The US has been watching closely as China increases its military capacity - in particular, its development of a so-called "carrier killer" missile, a land-based system which could sink an aircraft carrier from up to 1,800 miles (2,900km) away.

US battle groups - including aircraft carriers - are stationed in the South China Sea.

The US defence budget is still the biggest in the world at around $700bn, but China's is the second largest and the rate of increase may well go up this year.

China's official military budget quadrupled between 1999 and 2009 as the country's economy grew.
Last year, China announced a smaller-than-usual 7.5% increase to $76.3bn.

The BBC's Martin Patience in Beijing says there is concern in China that the US is trying to encircle it by strengthening its military alliances around the region.

In February last year, Beijing cut military ties with the US, after Washington sold $6.4bn (£4.1bn) of arms to Taiwan.

The Beijing considers the self-governed island a breakaway province - it has hundreds of missiles pointed at Taiwan and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control if it moved towards declaring formal independence.

By DALJIT DHESI daljit@thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: Despite the forecast for a moderation in economic growth, the wealth-management business is poised for better times in line with stronger demand from customers to grow and preserve their wealth.

The rise of the mass-affluent segment is also seen as a catalyst in boosting the revenue of banks offering such services.

The local wealth-management industry is slated to grow at 12% to 14% in terms of revenue this year, driven among others by the mass-affluent segment, according to Citibank Bhd head of wealth management (products and Citigold segment marketing) Ronnie Lim.

Ong Shi Jie says there are many catalysts to propel the industry forward

“In the next three years, we expect our wealth-management business to outgrow the market by 2.5 times. Our focus will continue to be on investments, treasury products and bancassurance,” he told StarBiz.

Lim said the second wave of quantitative easing (QE2) by the US Federal Reserve would spark further demand for treasury products in the emerging market.

Treasury products like high-yielding retail bonds, derivative products with equity and foreign exchange as the underlying assets were likely to experience good demand, he noted.

QE refers to the Federal Reserve's efforts to jump-start the economy and stave off deflation by buying back US$600bil in Treasury bonds, hence putting more money into the system.

OCBC Bank (M) Bhd head of wealth management Ong Shi Jie, without specifying the numbers, said the bank expected percentage growth in the “high teens” for its fee income-related wealth-management products like unit trusts, structured investments and insurance.

“There are indeed many catalysts to propel the wealth-management industry forward. For example, the insurance product penetration in Malaysia is still low compared with our neighbours. Our capital markets are liberalising and becoming increasingly plugged into the global landscape.

“Furthermore, Islamic financial planning is still at its infancy stage and, hence, there is a lot of room for growth. This augurs well for the wealth-management business,” she added.

United Overseas Bank (M) Bhd (UOB) head of wealth management (investment, personal financial services division) Samantha Lim expects the bank's wealth-management business to pick up this year as more sidelined investors return to make use of the opportunities and ride on the momentum of global activities.

She said the bank's wealth-management business was currently growing at about 30%, especially the investment business.

“Liquidity is ample, investors are looking for yield pick-up over deposit returns,” she said.
Moving forward, the investment opportunity in emerging markets, the US and in sectors such as commodities would provide room for the business.

Alliance Bank Malaysia Bhd head of integrated wealth management Marc-Olivier Francq expects overall retail wealth-management business to improve across various products such as investments, insurance, takaful and stock broking due to various macroeconomic factors.

On the challenges facing the business, Citibank's Lim said it was two-fold talent and the ability to roll out new products that could cater to the needs of the mass affluent.

“In the wealth-management space, talents such as treasury specialists, relationship managers, investment consultants, product managers and wealth practitioners are very much needed in Malaysia. Key to a sustainable growth is the ability to hire and retain talents,” he noted.

UOB's Lim said one of the immediate challenges in wealth management was the ability to effectively balance the risk of interest rate hikes while continuing to ride on the wave of liquidity as sudden interest rate hikes might adversely impact certain investments.