China heaps scorn on Abe remarks to boost US alliance (against China)

Washington (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is in the United States to forge a new and closer alliance with the Unit States in opposition to China. Elected in December, the hawkish Abe arrived in Washington yesterday. Today he is scheduled to meet US President Barack Obama. The timing of the visit is not accidental, given rising tensions with China over a group of islands and North Korea's ever-dangerous threats

.In an interview with a US paper ahead of his trip, Abe voiced hope that the US alliance - and the presence of 47,000 American troops on Japanese soil under a security treaty - would send a message to China. "It is important for us to have them recognise that it is impossible to try to get their way by coercion or intimidation," Abe explained.



VIDEO: CHINA REJECTS ABE’S ACCUSATIONS CCTV News - CNTV English

 The Chinese foreign ministry on Friday continued to slam Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who pointed the finger at China on a slate of domestic issues during an interview prior to his visit to the US.

The ministry accused Japan of playing up the "China threat" with ulterior motives.

"China is strongly dissatisfied with the Japanese leader's comments that distort facts, attack and defame China and stir up confrontations between the two countries," Hong Lei, spokesman for the foreign ministry, told a press briefing.

Hong's comments followed others from Thursday and came in response to Abe's accusations, which claimed China had a "deeply ingrained" need to spar with Japan and neighboring countries to "maintain domestic support," according to the Washington Post.

Echoing the Chinese side's requirement for immediate clarifications, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga explained Friday that the newspaper misquoted Abe's remarks and had caused a misunderstanding.

Suga said the prime minister has repeatedly emphasized the Japan-China relationship and would push forward strategic and mutually beneficial relations.

Despite the explanation, the transcript of the exclusive interview published by the Washington Post on Thursday showed that the hawkish Japanese leader lambasted China's political and education systems among other issues.

During the interview, Abe said that under the one-party rule of the Communist Party and having introduced a market economy, China needs to maintain high economic growth by seeking resources through coercion or intimidation while teaching patriotism mirroring an "anti-Japanese sentiment."

"Obviously, Abe tries to tarnish China's image in the international community and hype up the 'China threat' before talks with Obama in order to win US sympathy and support," Lü Yaodong, a researcher of Japanese politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times Friday.

Hong said that only Chinese people have the right to speak about whether China's political system and development strategy are suitable.

"Only those with political bias and ulterior motives would maliciously interpret and blame them," he noted.

Huang Dahui, director of the Center for East Asia Studies at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times that this reflected the "value-oriented" diplomacy Abe has been adopting to "flatter" the US, adding that the hawkish Japanese leader has also stressed propaganda throughout his political career.

Abe was scheduled to meet Obama on Friday. During a press conference on Thursday, White House Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said the meeting is a "further symbol of the President's commitment to the US-Japan alliance as a cornerstone of US economic and security policy, and as a cornerstone of the US-Asia policy."

Danny Russel, senior director for Asia at the National Security Council, said the two leaders are expected to discuss maritime security issues and territorial claims both in the East China Sea and the South China Sea.

In his interview with the Washington Post, Abe also warned that without changing its current policy, China would lose the confidence of the international community, which will result in a loss of foreign investment.

"The logic is ridiculous. It is Japan that has stirred up provocation by 'nationalizing' the Diaoyu Islands. It should rethink its own policies," said Lü.

Regarding such remarks, Russel said Obama would listen to Abe's assessment and views on the current situation in the East China Sea and the consultations between Tokyo and Beijing. He added that the US opposition to coercive actions or unilateral steps threatening the stability of the region has been "clear."

A commentary carried by the Xinhua News Agency on Friday said the US should not be "hijacked" by Japan over the territorial dispute with China, as the US support for Japan on this issue "would not only damage Washington's credibility as a constructive superpower, but also as an important partner of China on many pressing global issues."

Huang said in terms of China-related issues, the US would show its support to Japan as an ally, but would not be led by Japan to sacrifice the China-US relationship.

Sources: AsiaNews.it/Global Times

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Cyberattacks using US IPs' target military - China-fights back

VIDEO: EXPERT SAYS HACKING ALLEGATION ILLOGICAL CCTV News - CNTV English



China’s state media has come out fighting after over allegations of cyberattacks on US companies, and declared the accusations a “commercial stunt.”

Earlier this week, Alexandria based Internet security firm Mandiant, said Chinese military cyberspy unit had been targeting US and other foreign firms and organisations in hacking attacks.

But China Daily have hit back, writing: “One cannot help but ask the real purpose of such a hullabaloo.”

The paper added:

“With the US economic recovery dragging its feet, it is reasonable to think that some in Washington may want to make China a scapegoat so that public attention is diverted away from the country’s economic woes.”

China Daily also quoted defense ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng as saying the People’s Liberation Army had also been targeted in a “significant number” of cyberattacks.

“A considerable number” of them originated in the United States, judging from the IP addresses involved,” he said, but added that he did not “accuse” the US government of being involved.

According to Agence France-Presse, Mandiant’s report alleges that the hacking group “Advanced Persistent Threat” (APT1), was part of the Chinese military’s Unit 61398. Mandiant also said APT1 have stolen hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 141 across 20 industries, some of whom are involved with US domestic infrastructure.

But official state news agency Xinhua said the Mandiant report “reeks of a commercial stunt”.

“Next time,” wrote Xinhua in a stinging commentary, “the CEO could simply say: ‘See the Chinese hackers? Hurry up, come and buy our cyber security services.’ ”

The state news agency added that the US had a “matchless superiority and an ability to stage cyberattacks across the globe”, and that the US military had “established a significant cyber force, including the 780th Military Intelligence Brigade, which is a regular military unit tasked with carrying out cyber missions”.
In a further missive, Xinhua said Washington had a “habit of accusing other nations based on phony evidence,” adding:

“Facts will eventually prove that the cyberattacks accusations are groundless and will only tarnish the image and reputation of the company making them, as well as that of the United States.”

The comments in China’s media comes after President Obama’s administration executive order on February 12 which promised to aggressively combat the increase in cyberattacks pursuing trade secrets that could threaten domestic economic and national security, Mondaq reports.

In a report titled the Cyberspace Policy Review, the White House did not explicitly name China as a threat, but the inference was clear.

The step-up on US cyber-security follows well publicized claims of hacking attacks from Chinese sources at The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Tuesday, “We have repeatedly raised our concerns at the highest levels about cybertheft with senior Chinese officials, including in the military, and will continue to do so. This is a very important challenge.”

At a subsequent press briefing on Wednesday, Carney added there could be possible trade restrictions imposed on China.

But some experts say most the documented cyberattacks have been linked to Eastern Europe, with the remainder linked to the U.S. and only a handful to China.

“There are too many people right now saying, ‘the sky is falling,’ without proposing cost-effective solutions, which is causing a lot of confusion,” said James Hendler, professor of computer science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, IB Times reports.

Spurred by private sector, Malaysia economy grows 6.4% in Q4, 5.6% for 2012 vs 5.1% in 2011

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's economy recorded a spectacular performance in the last quarter of 2012, growing 6.4%.

This is the highest quarterly growth since two and a half years ago and was buoyed by robust manufacturing and construction sectors.

It supported the overall economic growth for 2012 that expanded to 5.6% compared to 5.1% in 2011.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast that the growth of the fourth quarter would accelerate to 5.5% from 5.2% in the previous three-month period, and forecast a full-year growth at 5.3%.

All sectors registered positive growth with the services, manufacturing and construction sectors continuing to be the key drivers in the supply side.

Many experts believed that the Economic Transformation Programme, with its multi-billion projects, had to a great extent supported the growth in the construction sector that carried spill-over effects onto other sectors.

Bank Negara Malaysia said total investment remained robust and was the main driver of growth during the quarter.

“The growth of private consumption continued to remain strong although the pace of increase moderated.

“The growth during the quarter also benefited from a significantly lower negative contribution from net exports.

“On the supply side, most economic sectors recorded improvements in growth during the quarter,” it said in a statement yesterday.

The main drivers of the economy in the fourth quarter included domestic demand that continued to expand by 7.5%.

Private sector investment advanced by 20.2% supported by capital spending in the domestic-oriented manufacturing and consumer-related services sub-sectors, namely telecommunications, real estate and aviation and the on-going implementation of projects in the oil and gas sector.

Investment was also supported by capacity expansion in the primary-related manufacturing cluster and capital spending in new growth areas such as medical and communications equipment.

Public investment expanded by 11.1%, driven by capital spending by public enterprises in the transportation, utilities, oil and gas and communications sectors.

Bank Negara said the headline inflation rate, as measured by the annual change in the Consumer Price Index, continued to moderate to 1.3% in the fourth quarter.

Going forward, Bank Negara said there were emerging signs of improvements in the global economy where the latest economic indicators also suggested further stabilisation in growth performance in Asia. - The Star/Asia News Network