Tag Archives: China

China gearing up for East Asia dominance, U.S. commander says

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – China is “changing the operational landscape” in the South China Sea by deploying missiles and radar as part of an effort to militarily dominate East Asia, a senior U.S. military official said on Tuesday.

China is “clearly militarising the South China (Sea),” said Admiral Harry Harris, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, adding: “You’d have to believe in a flat Earth to think otherwise.”

Harris said he believed China’s deployment of surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island in the South China Sea’s Paracel chain, new radars on Cuarteron Reef in the Spratlys and its building of airstrips were “actions that are changing in my opinion the operational landscape in the South China Sea.”

Soon after he spoke, U.S. government sources confirmed that China recently deployed fighter jets to Woody Island. It was not the first time Beijing sent jets there but it raised new questions about its intentions.

U.S. Navy Captain Darryn James, spokesman for U.S. Pacific Command, said China’s repeated deployment of advanced fighter aircraft to Woody Island continued a disturbing trend.

“These destabilising actions are inconsistent with the commitment by China and all claimants to exercise restraint from actions that could escalate disputes,” he said. “That’s why we’ve called for all claimants to stop land reclamation, stop construction and stop militarization in the South China Sea.”

But U.S. and Chinese foreign ministers signalled that despite disagreements over the South China Sea, they were near agreement on a U.N. resolution against North Korea for its recent nuclear and missile tests and stressed their cooperation on economic and other issues.

‘HEGEMONY IN EAST ASIA’

Speaking before the meeting in Washington between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Harris said China was escalating the situation in the South China Sea with new deployments. Asked about its aims, he said: “I believe China seeks hegemony in East Asia.”

Responding to another question, Harris said Chinese DF-21 and DF-26 anti-ship missiles could pose a threat to U.S. aircraft carriers, but added the vessels were resilient and that the United States had “the capability to do what has to be done if it comes to that.”

Harris also said he supported regular U.S. air and naval patrols to assert freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, a vital waterway through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year.

At a news conference with Kerry, Wang said there had been no problems with freedom of navigation and China and countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations – several of which have competing claims with China – “have the capability to maintain stability in the South China Sea.”

He said militarization was not the responsibility of one party alone and added in apparent reference to U.S. patrols: “We don’t hope to see any more close-up military reconnaissance, or the dispatch of missile destroyers or strategic bombers to the South China Sea.”

‘ESCALATORY CYCLE’

Kerry said steps by China, Vietnam and others had created an “escalatory cycle.”

“What we are trying to do it break that cycle,” he said.

“Regrettably there are missiles and fighter aircraft and guns and other things that have been placed into the South China Sea and this is of great concern to everyone who transits and relies on the South China Sea for peaceful trade,” he added.

A U.S. think tank reported on Monday that China may be installing a high-frequency radar system on the Cuarteron Reef in the Spratly Islands that could significantly boost its ability to control the strategic sea.

Last Thursday, the United States accused China of raising tensions by its apparent deployment of surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island. China has also built military-length airstrips on artificial islands in the South China Sea.

China’s Foreign Ministry said ahead of Wang’s visit that Beijing’s military deployments in the South China Sea were no different from U.S. deployments on Hawaii.

China’s Ministry of Defense said on its microblog on Tuesday that China had established “necessary defensive facilities” that were “legal and appropriate.”

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Additional reporting by Phil Stewart, Andrea Shalal, Roberta Rampton and Mark Hosenball; Editing by Frances Kerry, Tom Brown and Peter Cooney)

China signals no South China Sea backdown as foreign minister goes to U.S.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s South China Sea military deployments are no different from U.S. deployments on Hawaii, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday, striking a combative tone ahead of a visit by Foreign Minister Wang Yi to the United States this week.

The United States last week accused China of raising tensions in the South China Sea by its apparent deployment of surface-to-air missiles on a disputed island, a move China has neither confirmed nor denied.

Asked whether the South China Sea, and the missiles, would come up when Wang is in the United States to meet Secretary of State John Kerry, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Washington should not use the issue of military facilities on the islands as a “pretext to make a fuss”.

“The U.S. is not involved in the South China Sea dispute, and this is not and should not become a problem between China and the United States,” Hua told a daily news briefing.

China hopes the U.S. abides by its promises not to take sides in the dispute and stop “hyping up” the issue and tensions, especially over China’s “limited” military positions there, she said.

“China’s deploying necessary, limited defensive facilities on its own territory is not substantively different from the United States defending Hawaii,” Hua added.

U.S. ships and aircraft carrying out frequent, close-in patrols and surveillance in recent years is what has increased regional tensions, she said.

“It’s this that is the biggest cause of the militarization of the South China Sea. We hope that the United States does not confuse right and wrong on this issue or practice double standards.”

AUSTRALIA OPERATIONS URGED

On Monday, a senior U.S. naval officer was reported as saying Australia and other countries should follow the U.S. lead and conduct “freedom-of-navigation” naval operations within 12 nautical miles of contested islands in the South China Sea.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.

Beijing has rattled nerves with construction and reclamation activities on the islands it occupies, though it says these moves are mostly for civilian purposes.

The state-owned China Southern Power Grid Company will set up a power grid management station in what China calls Sansha City, located on Woody Island in the Paracels, which will be able to access microgrids in 16 other islands, according to China’s top regulator of state-owned assets.

In the long term, the station will be able to remotely manage power for many islands there, the statement added, without specifying which islands it was referring to.

Wang is scheduled to be in the U.S. from Tuesday until Thursday.

Hua said the minister is also expected to discuss North Korea, and she repeated China’s opposition to the possible U.S. deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system following North Korea’s recent rocket launch.

(Additional reporting by Megha Rajagopalan; Editing by Richard Borsuk)

Vietnam protests China missile deployment, other countries urge restraint

HANOI/SYDNEY (Reuters) – Vietnam protested to China on Friday at a “serious violation” of its sovereignty over Beijing’s apparent deployment of an advanced missile system on a disputed South China Sea island, while Australia and New Zealand urged Chinese restraint.

Tensions between China and its neighbors over maritime territory have risen since Taiwan and U.S. officials said Beijing had placed surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island, part of the Paracel archipelago it controls.

“Vietnam is deeply concerned about the actions by China. These are serious infringements of Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Paracels, threatening peace and stability in the region as well as security, safety and freedom of navigation and flight,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said in a statement.

“Vietnam demands China immediately stop such erroneous actions.”

The statement said diplomatic notes had been issued to China’s embassy in Hanoi and to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to protest at Beijing’s activities, including the building of a military helicopter base on Duncan island.

Earlier, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had urged claimants to refrain from island-building and militarization in the South China Sea.

“It is absolutely critical that we ensure that there is a lowering of tensions,” said Turnbull, speaking after a meeting in Sydney with New Zealand counterpart John Key.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year and which is believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.

The Philippines said it was “gravely concerned” about the reports of missiles being deployed on Woody Island.

“These developments further erode trust and confidence and aggravate the already tense situation,” its Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Australia’s Turnbull said if Chinese President Xi Jinping was serious about avoiding the so-called Thucydides Trap, a foreign policy metaphor inspired by ancient Athens and Sparta in which a rising power causes fear in an established power that escalates toward war, he must resolve disputes through international law.

“President Xi is right in identifying avoiding that trap as a key goal,” said Turnbull.

U.S. PATROLS

Beijing has been angered by air and sea patrols the United States has conducted near islands China claims. Those have included one by two B-52 strategic bombers in November and by a U.S. Navy destroyer that sailed within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island in the Paracels last month.

Key said New Zealand, the first developed country to recognize China as a market economy and to sign a bilateral free trade deal, was leveraging its relationship with China to urge measures to lower tensions.

“Does that give us more opportunities to make that case, both privately and publicly? … my view is yes,” said Key, noting that both Australia and New Zealand are now also part of the Beijing-led Asian Investment Bank.

The comments come after Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop visited Beijing, where she raised the issues of the missiles and the South China Sea in meetings with Chinese officials, including top diplomat Yang Jiechi.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Australia and New Zealand “are not countries involved in the South China Sea”.

“We hope the two countries can objectively view the historical developments of the South China Sea, not neglect the facts, and not put forward proposals that are unconstructive,” Hong told reporters.

The Chinese government has offered few details in response to the missile claim, while accusing Western media of “hyping up” the story and saying China has a legitimate right to military facilities on territory it views as its own.

An influential Chinese state-run tabloid, the Global Times, in an editorial on Friday, described the HQ-9 missiles that are apparently now on Woody Island as “a typical type of defensive weapon”, but warned the People’s Liberation Army might feel compelled to deploy more weapons.

“If the U.S. military stages a real threat and a military clash is looming, the PLA may feel propelled to deploy more powerful weapons,” it said.

At a summit of Southeast Asian leaders in California on Monday, Vietnam’s prime minister suggested to U.S. President Barack Obama that Washington take “more efficient actions” against militarization and island-building.

(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard and Michael Martina in BEIJING and Manuel Mogato in MANILA; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Alex Richardson)

U.S. expects ‘very serious’ talks with China after missile reports

WASHINGTON/TAIPEI (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday the United States expects to have “very serious” talks with China about militarization of the South China Sea after reports that Beijing deployed advanced surface-to-air missiles to a disputed island.

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said the missile batteries had been set up on Woody Island in the Paracels chain, which has been under Chinese control for decades but also is claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam.

A U.S. defense official also confirmed the “apparent deployment” of the missiles, first reported by Fox News.

“There is every evidence, every day that there has been an increase of militarization of one kind or another,” Kerry told reporters when asked about the reported deployment. “It’s of serious concern.

“We have had these conversations with the Chinese and I am confident that over the next days we will have further very serious conversation on this.”

The United States claims no territory in the South China Sea but has expressed serious concerns about how China’s increasingly assertive pursuit of territorial claims there could affect the vital global trade routes that pass though it.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters the “limited and necessary self-defense facilities” China had on islands and reefs where it has personnel stationed was “consistent with the right to self-protection that China is entitled to under international law.”

The Chinese Defense Ministry told Reuters the latest reports about missile deployment were nothing but “hype.”

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.

TOPIC AT ASEAN MEETING

News of the missile deployment came as U.S. President Barack Obama and leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations concluded a summit in California, where they discussed the need to ease tensions in the South China Sea.

It also followed a patrol by a U.S. Navy destroyer within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island in the Paracels last month, a move China condemned as provocative.

The United States also has conducted sea and air patrols near artificial islands that China has built in the Spratly islands chain farther south in the South China Sea, including by two B-52 strategic bombers in November.

Obama said the United States planned to continue such patrols in the name of freedom of navigation.

Admiral Harry Harris, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, said at a news briefing in Tokyo that deployment of missiles to the Paracels would not be a surprise but would be a concern and contrary to China’s pledge not to militarize the region.

Some analysts believe China’s increasing military presence in the South China Sea could lead to a Beijing-controlled air defense zone there.

“(The missile deployment) reinforces the view that China intends to exert growing control in these international waters, including potentially by declaring an Air Defense Identification Zone,” said Rory Medcalf, head of the National Security College at the Australian National University.

Mira Rapp-Hooper, a South China Sea expert from the Center for a New American Security, said it was not the first time China had sent air-defense missiles to the Paracels, but the latest move appeared to be a response to U.S. patrols.

She noted that while China had said it did not seek to militarize islands and reefs in the Spratly Islands, it had made no such commitment for the Paracels, where it has stationed military assets for years.

Ni Lexiong, a naval expert at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, said Woody Island belonged to China.

“Deploying surface-to-air missiles on our territory is completely within the scope of our sovereign rights,” he said. “We have sovereignty there, so we can choose whether to militarize it.”

Fox News said images from civilian satellite firm ImageSat International show two batteries of eight surface-to-air missile launchers on Woody Island, as well as a radar system.

The missiles arrived in the past week and, according to a U.S. official, appeared to show the HQ-9 air defense system, which has a range of 125 miles and would pose a threat to any airplanes flying close by, the report said.

(Additional reporting by Faith Hung in Taipei, David Brunnstrom and Arshad Mohammed in Washington, Jeff Mason and Bruce Wallace in Rancho Mirage, Megha Rajagopalan and Ben Blanchard in Beijing, Tim Kelly in Tokyo, Martin Petty in Hanoi, Matt Siegel in Sydney; Writing by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli and Bill Trott)

U.S. admiral warns against Chinese fighter flights from South China Sea runways

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Any move by China to fly jet fighters from runways on its new man-made islands in the disputed South China Sea would be destabilizing and would not deter U.S. flights over the area, a senior U.S. naval officer said on Monday.

Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin, the commander of the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet, also urged Beijing to be more open over its intentions in the South China Sea, saying it would relieve “some of the angst we are now seeing”.

“We are unsure where they are taking us,” Aucoin said of China’s recent moves during briefing with journalists in Singapore.

“So we are going to sail, fly, operate throughout these waters….like we have been doing for so long,” he said.

That, he added, included “flying over that airspace.”

Chinese and regional security analysts expect Beijing to start using its new runways in the disputed Spratlys archipelago for military operations in the next few months.

It last month tested for the first time the 3,000-meter runway built on a reclamation on Fiery Cross Reef by landing several civilian airliners from Hainan island.

Aucoin said he could not give an estimate when he expected Chinese military jets to start operating in the Spratlys.

“It’s a destabilizing uncertainty,” he said when asked about the impact of possible Chinese jet fighter patrols. He said it would raise questions about the intentions.

China claims much of the South China Sea, while Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims.

International concern is growing over tensions in the waterway, which carries an estimated $5 trillion in trade every year, including oil used by northeast Asian nations.

Since last October, two U.S. warships have sailed close to Chinese claimed features in the Spratly and Paracel archipelagoes in so-called freedom-of-navigation operations that Beijing has warned are provocative.

Chinese officials complained last December that a U.S. B-52 bomber flew close to one of Beijing’s artificial islands.

Other U.S. surveillance and transport planes routinely fly throughout the South China Sea.

Chinese warships and civilian vessels routinely flank U.S. naval ships in the area, but Aucoin said engagement between the two navies would continue, saying the relationship was “positive”.

“(The) International Law of the Sea has helped (China) for so many years. We just want them to respect those rights so that we can all continue to prosper,” he said.

(Reporting by Rujun Shen in Singapore; writing by Greg Torode in Hong Kong; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

China urges North Korea, U.S. to hold direct talks

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s foreign ministry on Monday urged the United States and North Korea to sit down with each other face-to-face and resolve their problems, as tension continues to climb on the Korean peninsula after North Korea’s latest rocket test.

While China was angered by the launch, it has also expressed concern at plans by Washington and Seoul to deploy an advanced U.S. missile defense system, saying it would impact upon China’s own security.

“The focus of the nuclear issue on the peninsula is between the United States and North Korea,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a daily news briefing.

“We urge the United States and North Korea to sit down and have communications and negotiations, to explore ways to resolve each other’s reasonable concerns and finally reach the goal we all want reached.”

North Korea launched a long-range rocket on Feb. 7 carrying what it called a satellite, drawing renewed international condemnation just weeks after it carried out a nuclear bomb test.

It said the launch was for peaceful purposes, but Seoul and Washington have said it violated United Nations Security Council resolutions because it used ballistic missile technology.

North Korea’s nuclear bomb test last month was also banned by a U.N. resolution.

China, while frustrated by North Korea and having signed up for numerous previous rounds of United Nations sanctions on its isolated neighbor, has said it does not believe sanctions are the way to resolve the problem and has urged a return to talks.

Numerous efforts to restart multilateral talks have failed since negotiations collapsed following the last round in 2008.

Chinese popular opinion has become increasingly fed up with North Korea, a country once a close diplomatic ally.

In an editorial on Monday, the official English-language China Daily called for new U.N. sanctions to “truly bite”.

“The threat of a nuclear-armed DPRK is more real than ever,” it said, using the North’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Hong repeated that North Korea would have to “pay a price” for its behavior.

Tension persists on the Korean peninsula.

Last Wednesday, South Korea suspended operations at the Kaesong industrial zone just inside North Korea, as punishment for the rocket launch and nuclear test.

The North on Thursday called the action “a declaration of war” and expelled the South’s workers. Kaesong, which had operated for more than a decade, was the last venue for regular interaction between the divided Koreas.

Asked about the zone’s shutdown, Chinese spokesman Hong said the peninsula was in a “complex and sensitive” phase.

“We hope all sides can take steps to ameliorate the tense situation,” he said.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

China issues warning as U.S., India consider South China Sea patrols

BEIJING (Reuters) – China on Thursday responded to a Reuters report that the U.S. and India are discussing joint naval patrols in the disputed South China Sea, warning that interference from countries outside the region threatens peace and stability.

“No cooperation between any countries should be directed at a third party,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in an emailed statement to Reuters, in response to a request for comment on the report published on Wednesday.

“Countries from outside the area must stop pushing forward the militarization of the South China Sea, cease endangering the sovereignty and national security of littoral countries in the name of ‘freedom of navigation’ and harming the peace and stability of the region.”

The United States wants its regional allies and other Asian nations to adopt a more united stance against China over the South China Sea, where tension has spiked since China’s construction of seven islands in the Spratly archipelago.

China lays claim to most of the South China Sea, while Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims.

A U.S. defense official told Reuters this week the United States and India had held talks about joint naval patrols that could include the South China Sea.

The Indian navy has never carried out joint patrols with another country and a navy spokesman told Reuters there was no change in the government’s policy of only joining an international military effort under the U.N. flag.

Neither the United States nor India have claims to the area, but the United States says it is concerned about shipping lanes running through the South China Sea, which carry an estimated $5 trillion of trade every year.

Hong urged caution.

“We hope that the relevant parties speak and act with caution, refrain from intervening in the South China Sea issue, and especially avoid being manipulated by certain countries and ultimately harming their own interests.”

China illustrates its claim to almost the entire South China Sea with a “nine-dashed line” on maps, that loops far to the south, with sections far closer to the coasts of countries like the Philippines and Vietnam than to its shores.

China’s more assertive claim has included dredging to build up islands and the construction of air fields and shipping facilities on some reefs. It recently launched flights to one artificial island.

The United States has responded by sending navy ships close to the islands China claims. China has condemned that as provocative.

India has a long-running land border dispute with China, and has stepped up its naval presence far beyond the Indian Ocean in recent years, deploying a ship to the South China Sea almost constantly, an Indian navy commander said.

(Reporting by Megha Rajagopalan and Pete Sweeney)

U.S. & India consider joint patrols in South China Sea

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The United States and India have held talks about conducting joint naval patrols that a U.S. defense official said could include the disputed South China Sea, a move that would likely anger Beijing, which claims most of the waterway.

Washington wants its regional allies and other Asian nations to take a more united stance against China over the South China Sea, where tensions have spiked in the wake of Beijing’s construction of seven man-made islands in the Spratly archipelago.

India and the United States have ramped up military ties in recent years, holding naval exercises in the Indian Ocean that last year involved the Japanese navy.

But the Indian navy has never carried out joint patrols with another country and a naval spokesman told Reuters there was no change in the government’s policy of only joining an international military effort under the United Nations flag.

He pointed to India’s refusal to be part of anti-piracy missions involving dozens of countries in the Gulf of Aden and instead carrying out its own operations there since 2008.

The U.S. defense official said the two sides had discussed joint patrols, adding that both were hopeful of launching them within the year. The patrols would likely be in the Indian Ocean where the Indian navy is a major player as well as the South China Sea, the official told Reuters in New Delhi on condition of anonymity.

The official gave no details on the scale of the proposed patrols.

There was no immediate comment from China, which is on a week-long holiday for Chinese New Year.

China accused Washington this month of seeking maritime hegemony in the name of freedom of navigation after a U.S. Navy destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles of a disputed island in the Paracel chain of the South China Sea in late January.

The U.S. Navy conducted a similar exercise in October near one of China’s artificial islands in the Spratlys.

MARITIME COOPERATION

Neither India nor the United States has claims to the South China Sea, but both said they backed freedom of navigation and overflight in the waterway when U.S. President Barack Obama visited New Delhi in January 2015.

Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also agreed at the time to “identify specific areas for expanding maritime cooperation”.

More than $5 trillion in world trade moves through the South China Sea each year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan also claim parts of the waterway.

In December, the issue of joint patrols came up when Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar visited the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii, an Indian government source said.

“It was a broad discussion, it was about the potential for joint patrols,” said the source, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

India has a long-running land border dispute with China and has been careful not to antagonize its more powerful neighbor, instead focusing on building economic ties.

But it has stepped up its naval presence far beyond the Indian Ocean, deploying a ship to the South China Sea almost constantly, an Indian navy commander said, noting this wasn’t the practice a few years ago.

The commander added that the largest number of Indian naval ship visits in the South China Sea region was to Vietnam, a country rapidly building military muscle for potential conflict with China over the waterway.

Still, the idea of joining the United States in patrols in the region was a long shot, the officer added.

The Philippines has asked the United States to do joint naval patrols in the South China Sea, something a U.S. diplomat said this month was a possibility.

(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick in Washington; and Megha Rajagopalan in Beijing; Editing by Dean Yates)

U.S. and allies aim to track North Korean rocket launch

SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) – The United States has deployed missile defense systems that will work with the Japanese and South Korean militaries to track a rocket North Korea says it will launch some time over an 18-day period beginning Monday.

China, the North’s sole major ally but opposed to Pyongyang’s nuclear program, appealed for calm.

North Korea has notified U.N. agencies it will launch a rocket carrying what it called an earth observation satellite some time between Feb. 8 and Feb. 25, triggering international opposition from governments that see it as a long-range missile test.

North Korea says it has a sovereign right to pursue a space program. But it is barred under U.N. Security Council resolutions from using ballistic missile technology.

Coming so soon after North Korea’s fourth nuclear test, on Jan. 6, also barred by Security Council resolutions, a rocket launch would raise concern that it plans to fit nuclear warheads on its missiles, giving it the capability to strike South Korea, Japan and possibly the U.S. West Coast.

China has told North Korea that it does not want to see anything happen that could further raise tension, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, describing “a serious situation”, after a special envoy from China visited North Korea this week.

The United States has urged China to use its influence to rein in its neighbor.

Speaking to President Park Geun-hye, Chinese President Xi Jinping said he hoped all parties could bear in mind the broader picture of maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula, and “calmly deal with the present situation”, China’s Foreign Ministry said.

“The peninsula cannot be nuclearized, and cannot have war or chaos,” Xi said, also repeating a call for dialogue.

Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper quoted Pentagon officials as saying that fuelling of the rocket appeared to have begun. It cited satellite footage showing increased activity around the missile launch and fuel storage areas, suggesting preparations for a launch could be completed within “a number of days” at the earliest.

A launch would draw fresh U.S. calls for tougher U.N. sanctions that are already under discussion in response to the nuclear test.

What would likely be an indigenous three-stage rocket will be tracked closely. South Korea and Japan have put their militaries on standby to shoot down the rocket, or its parts, if they go off course and threaten to crash on their territory.

“We will, as we always do, watch carefully if there’s a launch, track the launch, (and) have our missile defense assets positioned and ready,” U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said on Thursday.

“We plan a lot about it. We and our close allies – the Japanese and the South Koreans – are ready for it.”

South Korea has said its Aegis destroyers, its Green Pine anti-ballistic missile radar and early warning and control aircraft Peace Eye are ready.

A U.S. Navy spokesman confirmed the missile tracking ship USNS Howard O. Lorenzen arrived in Japan this week but declined to say if it was in response to the North’s planned launch.

SEARCH FOR CLUES

Boosters and other parts will also be tracked as they splash into the sea, in the hope they can be retrieved and analyzed for clues on Pyongyang’s rocket program.

“Retrieving parts or objects from the launch vehicle are the most important part of the rocket analysis,” said Markus Schiller, a rocketry expert based in Germany.

North Korea said the launch would be during the morning and gave coordinates of where the boosters and payload cover would drop in the Yellow Sea off the Korean Peninsula’s west coast and the Pacific to the east of the Philippines.

The U.S. Navy has sonar equipment and unmanned vehicles that could be used to help recover parts, according to Navy officials. It was not clear if that equipment is in the region.

North Korea last launched a long-range rocket in December 2012, sending what it described as a communications satellite into orbit.

South Korea’s navy retrieved the section of the first stage booster that was part of the fuel tank and one of the four steering engines that confirmed the presence of technology and materials that North Korea had not been known to possess.

Analysis pointed to a launch vehicle capable of carrying a payload of about 500 kg (1,100 lb) more than 10,000 km (6,200 miles), according to South Korea.

A typical nuclear warhead weighs about 300 kg, although North Korea is not believed to have been able to miniaturize a nuclear weapon to that size.

Recovered parts allowed experts to conclude that the second stage booster likely used Soviet-era Scud missile technology and did not use advanced propellant, indicating the rocket was suited for satellite launch but unfit to deliver a warhead.

“My guess is that if you took the rocket they used last time and put a warhead on it you probably would not be able to reach the United States,” said David Wright, co-director and senior scientist at the Global Security Program of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The search for information on the North’s rocket program will not be easy.

“Some of the more interesting parts, high-efficiency engines and guidance systems, are in the upper stages, and those usually fall far out to sea, at high speed into deep water,” said John Schilling, an aerospace engineer.

“Harder to find than that Malaysian airliner everybody has been looking for all last year.”

(Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal, David Brunnstrom, Ben Blanchard and Elaine Lies; Editing by Tony Munroe, Robert Birsel and Ralph Boulton)

Hackers attack 20 million accounts on Chinese shopping site

BEIJING (Reuters) – Hackers in China attempted to access over 20 million active accounts on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s Taobao e-commerce website using Alibaba’s own cloud computing service, according to a state media report posted on the Internet regulator’s website.

Analysts said the report from The Paper led to the price of Alibaba’s U.S.-listed shares falling as much as 3.7 percent in late Wednesday trade.

An Alibaba spokesman on Thursday said the company detected the attack in “the first instance”, reminded users to change passwords, and worked closely with the police investigation.

Chinese companies are grappling a sharp rise in the number of cyber attacks, and cyber security experts say firms have a long way to go before defenses catch up to U.S. counterparts.

In the latest case, hackers obtained a database of 99 million usernames and passwords from a number of websites, according to a separate report on a website managed by the Ministry of Public Security.

The hackers then used Alibaba’s cloud computing platform to input the details into Taobao. Of the 99 million usernames, they found 20.59 million were also being used for Taobao accounts, the ministry website said.

The hackers started inputting the details into Taobao in mid-October and were discovered in November, at which time Alibaba immediately reported the case to police, the ministry website said. The hackers have since been caught, it said.

Alibaba’s systems discovered and blocked the vast majority of log-in attempts, according to the ministry website.

The hackers used compromised accounts to fake orders on Taobao, a practice known as “brushing” in China and used to raise sellers’ rankings, the newspaper said. The hackers also sold accounts to be used for fraud, it said.

Alibaba’s spokesman said the hackers rented the cloud computing service, but declined to comment on security measures designed to stop the system being used for the attack. He said they could have used any such service, and that the attack was not aided by any possible loopholes in Alibaba’s platform.

“Alibaba’s system was never breached,” the spokesman said.

The number of accounts, 20.59 million, represents about 1 out of every 20 annual active buyers on Alibaba’s China retail marketplaces.

(Reporting by Paul Carsten; Additional reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Christopher Cushing)