XI JInPInG CAllS on PlA To enhAnCe CoMBAT ReAdIneSS

bejing staff CoRRespondent

CHINESEPresident Xi Jinping has called on the country’s armed forces to strengthen training and combat readiness. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks as he inspected the navy of the Southern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army.

Chinese President Xi Jinping takes a group photo with officers and soldiers when inspecting the navy of the Southern Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army, April 11, 2023. /CMG

Chinese President Xi Jinping takes a group photo with officers and soldiers when inspecting the navy of the Southern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army.

President Xi Jinping emphasized the im-

Russia conducts test launch of ‘advanced’ ICBM

MoscoW: agenCies portance of carrying out the military strategies of the new era, training and preparing for war, and accelerating transformation to boost the modernization levels of the armed forces on all fronts.

He also called for resolutely defending China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights, as well as striving to maintain stability in its surrounding area, Xi told the PLA officers and soldiers.

Xi also urged to intensify military training under combat conditions and underscored the importance of military research and innovation in developing new methods and means of warfare and promoting the use of new armaments in combat.

China urges U.S. to explain leaked intel and spying on other countries

Noting the leaked Pentagon documents, Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said during a regular press conference on Wednesday that the United States should explain to the interna- tional community why it is spying on other countries.

Wang made the remarks in response to a query on the recent reports of Pentagon’s leaked documents, which reveal the deep involvement of the U.S. in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, as well as its continuing close surveillance of allies, including Israel and South Korea.

Citing multiple media reports, Wang said the leaked intelligence documents show the U.S. is deeply involved in the Ukraine crisis and that it is still using its technological advantages to secretly spy on countries around the world, including its allies. The leaks have already drawn responses from some foreign governments. For example, South Korea’s presidential office said on Monday it will demand the U.S. to take appropriate action over reports of the U.S.’s alleged spying on its top security officials, once details of the matter are confirmed.

South Korea to conduct first launch of commercial-grade satellite

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South Korea plans to conduct its first launch of a commercial-grade satellite aboard a domestically built rocket next month as part of its space development program, officials said Tuesday.

South Korea’s officials say its homegrown Nuri space launch vehicle has no military purposes. But some experts say the development of such rockets would eventually help the country acquire technologies needed to build bigger missiles and launch reconnaissance satellites.

In June last year, South Korea conducted its first satellite launch using the

Nuri rocket. That launch involved what South Korean officials called a “performance verification” satellite mainly designed to examine the capacity of the rocket while next month’s event is meant to put a commercial-grade satellite into orbit for the first time.

The country’s Science Ministry said the rocket will blast off from its space launch center on a southern island on May 24. A ministry statement said it had set a backup launch date from May 2531, in case of possible schedule changes due to weather.

The rocket will carry one main satellite called “Next Generation Small Satellite 2” and seven other smaller cube-shaped satellites. The main satel- rocket’s second liftoff. In its first launch in 2021, the rocket’s dummy payload reached the desired altitude but failed to enter orbit. After next month’s launch, South Korea plans three more Nuri rocket launches, officials said.

Russia has conducted what it said was the successful test launch of an “advanced” intercontinental ballistic missile, weeks after it suspended participation in its last remaining nuclear arms control pact with the United States. The Russian defence ministry said in a statement that a “combat crew successfully launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) of a mobile ground-based missile system” from its Kapustin Yar test site on Tuesday. “The missile’s training warhead hit a mock target at the Sary-Shagan training ground (Republic of Kazakhstan) with given precision,” it added. Since sending troops into Ukraine last year, President Vladimir Putin has issued thinly veiled warnings that he could use nuclear weapons there if Russia were threatened. In late February, Putin said Moscow was suspending participation in the New START treaty, under which Russia and the United States had agreed to limit nuclear stockpiles and submit to mutual inspections. And less than three weeks ago, Putin said he would deploy tactical nuclear weapons in neighbour and ally Belarus, bringing the arms to the doorstep of the European Union. Both moves drew condemnation from NATO. While the Russian defence ministry did not specify the type of missile used in Tuesday’s launch, it said the exercise’s purpose “was to test advanced combat equipment of intercontinental ballistic missiles”. “This launch made it possible to confirm the correctness of the circuit design and technical solutions used in the development of new strategic missile systems,” it added. In February, Putin said a new kind of ICBM would be deployed sometime this year, following US reports that the weapon had failed a recent test. The Sarmat — dubbed “Satan 2” by Western analysts — is capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads and is among Russia’s next-generation missiles that Putin has described as “invincible”.

US begins study of possible rules to regulate AI like ChatGPT

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The Biden administration said Tuesday it is seeking public comments on potential accountability measures for artificial intelligence (AI) systems as questions loom about its impact on national security and education. ChatGPT, an AI program that recently grabbed the public’s attention for its ability to write answers quickly to a wide range of queries, in particular has attracted U.S. lawmakers’ attention as it has grown to be the fastest-growing consumer application in history with more than 100 million monthly active users. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a Commerce Department agency that advises the White House on telecommunications and information policy, wants input as there is “growing regulatory interest” in an AI “accountability mechanism.” The agency wants to know if there are measures that could be put in place to provide assurance “that AI systems are legal, effective, ethical, safe, and otherwise trustworthy.” “Responsible AI systems could bring enormous benefits, but only if we address their potential consequences and harms. For these systems to reach their full potential, companies and consumers need to be able to trust them,” said NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson. President Joe Biden last week said it remained to be seen whether AI is dangerous. “Tech companies have a responsibility, in my view, to make sure their products are safe before making them public,” he said. ChatGPT, which has wowed some users with quick responses to questions and caused distress for others with inaccuracies, is made by California-based OpenAI and backed by Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O). NTIA plans to draft a report as it looks at “efforts to ensure AI systems work as claimed – and without causing harm” and said the effort will inform the Biden Administration’s ongoing work to “ensure a cohesive and comprehensive federal government approach to AI-related risks and opportunities.”

A tech ethics group, the Center for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Policy, asked the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to stop OpenAI from issuing new commercial releases of GPT-4 saying it was “biased, deceptive, and a risk to privacy and public safety.” lite is tasked with verifying imaging radar technology and observing cosmic radiation in near-Earth orbit, the statement said. The Nuri rocket is seen at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Korea, March 28, 2023. /Korea Aerospace Research Institute he Nuri rocket is seen at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Korea, March 28, 2023. /Korea Aerospace Research Institute

Authorities have completed the assembly of the rocket’s first and second stages and are conducting final environmental tests of the eight satellites that are to be placed on the rocket’s third stage.

Last year’s launch was the Nuri

US seeks to reassure allies after secret documents leak

Agencies

Top U.S. diplomat Antony Blinken and defense chief Lloyd Austin spoke with their Ukrainian counterparts on Tuesday as Washington seeks to reassure its allies after dozens of classified intelligence documents, which, The Washington Post reported, exposed how the U.S. spies on friends and foes alike, appeared online.

“We have engaged with allies and partners at high levels over the past days, including to reassure them about our own commitment to safeguarding intelligence,” Blinken told a news conference on Tuesday.

Blinken said he had spoken with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba and “reaffirmed our enduring support for Ukraine and for its efforts to defend its territorial integrity, its sovereignty, its independence.”

“The documents, which appear to have come at least in part from the Pentagon and are marked as highly classified, offer tactical information about the war in Ukraine, including the country’s combat capabilities,” according to a report from The Washington Post.

“The series of detailed briefings and summaries open a rare window on the inner workings of American espionage,” said the report. Among other secrets, they ap- pear to reveal where the CIA has recruited human agents privy to the closed-door conversations of world leaders; eavesdropping that shows a Russian mercenary outfit tried to acquire weapons from a NATO ally to use against Ukraine; and what kinds of satellite imagery the United States uses to track Russian forces, including an advanced technology that appears barely, if ever, to have been publicly identified. Many of the documents seem to have been prepared over the winter for senior military officials, but were also available to other U.S. person- nel and contract employees with the requisite security clearances, the report said, citing one defense official.

Other documents include analysis from U.S. intelligence agencies about Russia and several other countries, all based on information gleaned from classified sources, according to the report.

Senior Pentagon leadership restricted the flow of intelligence on Friday in response to the revelations, the Post quoted U.S. officials as saying, adding that one described the clampdown as unusually strict and said it revealed a high level of panic among Pentagon leadership.

“The third launch of Nuri is of great significance as it is the first attempt to launch a commercial-grade satellite and the first time a private company will jointly manufacture the homegrown Nuri rocket,” Oh Taeseok, the country’s first vice science minister, was quoted as saying in the ministry statement.

South Korea, the world’s 10th largest economy, is a major producer of semiconductors, automobiles and smartphones. But its space development program lags behind that of its neighbors China, India and Japan. Since the early 1990s, South Korea has sent a series of satellites into space, but all of them involved foreign rocket technology or launch sites.

Iranian delegation arrives in Saudia amid thaw between regional powers

Agencies

An Iranian delegation arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to pave the way for reopening diplomatic missions as the Gulf rivals prepare to normalise relations, seven years after an acrimonious split. The announcement came just days after a Saudi delegation made a similar visit to Tehran hot on the heels of a historic meeting in China between the two governments’ foreign ministers who vowed to bring stability to the turbulent region. “The Iranian delegation arrived in Riyadh on Wednesday to visit and reopen the Iranian embassy and consulate in accordance with the recent agreement between the two countries,” Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported. “One team is due to to travel to Jeddah to prepare for the reopening of Iran’s consulate there and its representation in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, while the other will remain in Riyadh to reopen the embassy,” IRNA added. Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has been invited to Saudi Arabia, according to Tehran, in what would be the first visit of its kind since Mohammad Khatami went in 1999. The flurry of diplomatic activity follows last month’s landmark, Chinese-brokered announcement that Iran and Saudi Arabia, who have backed opposing sides in conflicts around the Middle East, would work towards resuming ties. Riyadh broke off relations in 2016 after Iranian protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic missions following the execution of Saudi Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr — one in a series of flashpoints between the long-time foes.

China supports all measures conducive to political settlement of Afghan issue: statement

bejing staff CoRRespondent

Under the new circumstances, Afghanistan should be a platform for cooperation among various parties rather than geopolitical games, and China supports all plans and measures that are conducive to political settlement of the Afghan issue, says an 11point statement released by China, detailing its stance on the Afghanistan issue. The statement, titled “China’s Position on the Afghan Issue,” was released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.

It said China respects the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan, respects the independent choices made by the Afghan people, and respects the religious beliefs and national customs of Afghanistan. China never interferes in Afghanistan’s internal affairs, never seeks selfish interests in

Afghanistan, and never pursues socalled sphere of influence, it added.

Noting China supports moderate and prudent governance in Afghanistan, the statement said China hopes that Afghanistan would build an open and inclusive political structure, adopt moderate and prudent domestic and foreign policies, and that Afghan Interim Government would protect the basic rights and interests of all Afghan people, including women, children and all ethnic groups. To help Afghanistan realize independent and sustainable development at an early date, the statement said China will continue to do its best to support Afghanistan with reconstruction and development, fulfill its assistance pledges, promote steady progress in economic, trade and investment cooperation, and actively carry out cooperation in fields like medical care, poverty alleviation.