China drives home rejection of 'Western' democracy

Beijing - The head of China's rubber-stamp parliament cited Western democracy no less than nine times in a speech Monday - to illustrate what the country would not become. China will never be a multiparty state with separation of powers, he said. It will not have an independent judiciary. Elections will still have mostly government-approved candidates on the ballot.

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Blair: China Adopting a More Aggressive Military Stance
National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair told Congress Tuesday that China has adopted a more aggressive military posture, according to Reuters, after the Pentagon accused five Chinese ships of harassing an unarmed U.S. Navy craft in international waters. The top intelligence official said the incident is the worst since a U.S. spy plane and crew were detained in 2001.

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China Readies Military Space Station for 2010 Launch
China is aggressively accelerating the pace of its manned space program by developing a 17,000 lb. man-tended military space laboratory planned for launch by late 2010. The mission will coincide with a halt in U.S. manned flight with phase-out of the shuttle.

The project is being led by the General Armaments Department of the People's Liberation Army, and gives the Chinese two separate station development programs.

Importantly, China is openly acknowledging that the new Tiangong outpost will involve military space operations and technology development. Along with the Tiangong announcement comes another major revelation — that China now has two manned space station programs under development.

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