VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

China should encourage its citizens to join counter-espionage work, including creating channels for individuals to report suspicious activity as well as commending and rewarding them, the state security ministry said on Tuesday.

A system that makes it "normal" for the masses to participate in counter-espionage must be established, wrote the Ministry of State Security, the main agency overlooking foreign intelligence and anti-spying, in its first post on its WeChat account, which went live on Monday.

The call to popularise anti-spying work among the masses follows an expansion of China's counter-espionage law that took effect in July.

The law, which bans the transfer of information related to national security and interests which it does not specify, has alarmed the United States, saying foreign companies in China could be punished for regular business activities.

The revised law allows authorities carrying out an anti-espionage probe to gain access to data, electronic equipment, and information on personal property.

Political security is the top priority of national security, and the "core" of political security is the security of China's political system, Minister of State Security Chen Yixin wrote in an article in a Chinese legal magazine in July.

"The most fundamental is to safeguard the leadership and ruling position of the Communist Party of China and the socialist system with Chinese characteristics," Chen said.

In recent years, China has arrested and detained dozens of Chinese and foreign nationals on suspicion of espionage, including an executive at Japanese drugmaker Astellas Pharma in March.

Australian journalist Cheng Lei, accused by China for providing state secrets to another country, has been detained since September 2020.

China's declaration that it is under threat from spies comes as Western nations, most prominently the United States, accuse China of espionage and cyberattacks, a charge that Beijing has rejected.

The United States itself is the "empire of hacking," a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson has said.

In protecting itself from espionage, China would need the participation of its people in building a defence line, the state security ministry wrote in its WeChat post. (Reuters)

Myanmar's ruling junta has officially postponed an election promised by August this year after its 2021 coup, state television reported late on Monday.

Junta leader General Min Aung Hlaing, in a meeting on Monday with the army-backed National Defence and Security Council (NDSC), extended a state of emergency by six more months.

The military had pledged to hold elections by August 2023 after it overthrew the elected government headed by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, but it cited ongoing violence as a reason to postpone the vote.

"While holding an election, in order to have an election that is free and fair and also to be able to vote without any fear, necessary security arrangements are still needed and so the period for the state of emergency is required to extend," read the junta statement on state TV.

Myanmar has been in chaos since the coup, with a resistance movement fighting the military on multiple fronts after a bloody crackdown on opponents that drew global condemnation and saw Western sanctions re-imposed.

The military seized power after complaining of fraud in a November 2020 general election won by Suu Kyi's party. Election monitoring groups found no evidence of mass fraud.

The overthrow of Suu Kyi's elected government derailed a decade of reform, international engagement and economic growth, while leaving a trail of upended lives in its wake.

In response to the junta's announcement, the U.S. State Department said extending the state of emergency would plunge the country "deeper into violence and instability".

"The regime's widespread brutality and disregard for the democratic aspirations of the people of Burma continue to prolong the crisis," said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.

A spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General said: "We want to return to democratic rule in Myanmar as soon as possible". (Reuters)

After months of intensified and increasingly ambitious drills to project power, Chinese President Xi Jinping, speaking ahead of Tuesday's 96th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), told China's armed forces to speed up modernisation.

In his address, Xi said the military must broaden its combat capability and readiness, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

"We need to push for new equipment and new forces to accelerate forming combat capabilities and integrate into the combat system," Xi told the Peoples Liberation Army Air Force's western theatre command during a visit last Wednesday, Xinhua reported on Sunday.

Marking the anniversary on Tuesday, an editorial in the official PLA Daily newspaper said the military had "enhanced its ability to carry out diversified military tasks in a wider space".

China has flaunted its military might this year, ramping up military manoeuvres and drills, signalling that its third and most advanced aircraft carrier will soon start sea trials, and tightening its military relationship with Russia.

Some analysts say that the moves reflect China's perception of increased external threats from the United States and its allies, and that Beijing is flexing its military muscle to send political messages.

"The reason is simple: the world is not peaceful and the external environment that China faces continues to deteriorate," said Chinese military analyst Song Zhongping, noting the increasing intensity and frequency of Chinese drills.

The U.S. is also expanding regional deployments and tightening ties with longstanding allies and newer friends - sparking calls from Chinese officials that Washington should steer clear of China's coasts if dialogue between the two militaries is to resume.

Drew Thompson, visiting senior research fellow at National University of Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, told Reuters that China's drills represent more of a political message than a military one.

"Everything the PLA (People's Liberation of Army) does is inherently political," Thompson said. "When the Chinese military conducts an exercise, it is showing force - it is bestowing or sending a message to other countries," he said.

LONG-RANGE CAPABILITIES

Starting with the military drill in the Taiwan strait after Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen's meeting with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in April, China has conducted at least a dozen exercises and patrols from the Sea of Japan to the Western Pacific.

At sea, China is readying its aircraft carriers to extend and assert its power beyond its home waters. Although they remain in training mode, Beijing has deployed the Shandong farther into the Pacific than previous sailings.

Regional military attaches and analysts will be scrutinising the expected sea trial of the more advanced Fujian carrier for signs of technological and operational progress.

State broadcaster CCTV said in June that the sea trial would start "soon" but no date has been fixed.

In the sky, China is fortifying its long-range abilities.

Videos posted online showed China's J-20 stealth jet fighter taking off with domestically produced WS-15 engines, the South China Morning Post reported in early July, while another report said the new engine will put U.S. military bases in South Korea, Japan, and Guam within the range of J-20.

China has worked for decades to build its high-performance jet engines that can compete with Western and Russian models, but the capabilities of the WS-15 are not publicly known.

The refuelling variant of its long-range Y-20 cargo aircraft was also displayed in a formation with jet fighters at a recent air show.

"It delivered a positive signal that Chinese air forces can conduct distant sea training and its systematic and long-distance combat capabilities are getting stronger and stronger," state media cited Shi Yunjia, a J-20 pilot, as saying last week. (Reuters)

China said on Tuesday it has complained to the United States about a weapons aid package to Taiwan, urging Washington to refrain from going further down a "wrong and dangerous" path.

The U.S. unveiled an aid package for Taiwan worth up to $345 million on Friday as Congress authorised up to $1 billion worth of weapons aid for the island as a part of the 2023 budget.

A spokesperson for China's defence ministry, Tan Kefei, said the U.S. must stop all forms of "military collusion" with Taiwan.

"The Taiwan issue concerns China's core interests and is a red line that cannot be crossed in China-U.S. relations," Tan said in a statement.

Beijing claims the democratically governed island as its own territory, and repeatedly warns against any forms of "official exchanges" between Washington and Taipei. Taiwan rejects China's sovereignty claims and says only Taiwan's people can decide their future.

The United States, Taiwan's most important arms supplier, is bound by law to provide it with the means to defend itself, despite the absence of formal diplomatic ties and the anger such weapons sales generate in Beijing.

The top U.S. general said in July it and allies should speed up weapons delivery to Taiwan in coming years to help the island defend itself.

China's military has also been flexing its muscles around the island, recently sending dozens of fighters, bombers and other aircraft including drones into the skies to Taiwan's south, according to Taiwan's defence ministry.

China's People's Liberation Army is paying close attention to the situation in the Taiwan Strait and is always on high alert, Tan said. (Reuters)