links for Oct 10, 2007
Theme: threats
Military:
The blanket of China’s air defense radar now almost matches similar networks in developed countries, state media reported today, in an announcement that coincided with Taiwan’s first National Day military parade in 16 years.
Faced with a threatening military buildup by China, an increasingly outgunned Taiwan is quietly pushing ahead with plans to develop missiles that could strike the mainland, defense and security experts say.
China has promoted at least four senior military officers with experience in planning for war over Taiwan, ahead of a major political meeting next week at which the Communist Party has said it will adopt a new strategy to stop the self-governing island from moving toward independence.
Corruption:
Corruption costs China as much as 3 per cent of its economic output, or $86bn in 2003, and poses a “lethal threat” to the country’s economic development, according to a report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Environment:
For three decades, water has been indispensable in sustaining the rollicking economic expansion that has made China a world power. Now, China’s galloping, often wasteful style of economic growth is pushing the country toward a water crisis. Water pollution is rampant nationwide, while water scarcity has worsened severely in north China — even as demand keeps rising everywhere.
Filed under: Environment, Politics | Tagged: China, Corruption, Environment, Links, Military, Missiles, Taiwan, Threats, Water
