Rising tensions in the Pacific

SHANGHAI -- A Chinese military expert is explaining to a conference here what he sees as the benign inevitability of Beijing's rising power in the Pacific. "You should trust China," he says cheerily. "In 10 years, we will be much stronger, and you will feel safer."

This Chinese prediction did not appear to reassure most of the several dozen European and American experts gathered for discussions last weekend. Instead, there was a consensus, even among most of the Chinese participants, that Beijing's growing military power has worried its neighbors and led to friction with Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam over disputed islands and maritime rights.

"You think we are a bully," conceded the Chinese military expert. "We think we are a victim." But nobody in the room disagreed about the reality that tensions in the Pacific are rising -- and that China and its neighbors cannot seem to find a way out. Which leaves the United States awkwardly in between, trying to support traditional allies such as Japan, without encouraging them to take reckless moves.

It is a sign of the times that delegates here talked openly about the danger of war in the Pacific. That's a big change from the tone of similar gatherings just a few years ago, when Chinese officials often tried to reassure foreign experts that a rising China wasn't on a collision course with the U.S. or regional powers. Now, in the East and South China seas, the collision seems all too possible.

Read more: www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/02/27/rising_tensions_in_the_pacific_121720.html#ixzz2ur7fCCfi
Follow us: @RCP_Articles on Twitter

Monitoring Voice of Pujiang

China

5075 kHz, Voice of Pujiang via Shanghai, 1219-1233 UTC, April 4. Chatting in Chinese, 1227 - spot in English (“a smile is the sunshine after the rain . . . let’s smile”; interview with “Michael.” Fair signal. MP3 audio at https://www.box.com/s/36j8de0gnsps10b1y1dx . Am grateful to Timm Breyel (Malaysia) for his excellent work establishing the following contact information! Please see Timm’s website:
http://shortwavedxer.blogspot.com/2012/12/want-qsl-from-voice-of-pujiang.html   .

Sent off a report of my reception to victor.pujiang@gmail.com , along with my box.com audio reference. Also told him how I miss visiting the old Xiangyang Market (which was across the street from Xiangyang Park that I often visited), where they use to sell fake designer goods (closed 2006). Received this reply:
“Thank you for your reception report! I have listened to the record. I confirm you were listening to Voice of Pujiang, please find the QSL- letter in the attachment.

When I was a high school student, many of my classmates went to the Xiangyang Market to get some cheap stuff. :) If you have another chance to Shanghai, you are most welcome to come to our station, the address is  shown on the QSL letter, or we can have a coffee together, I am also a DXer. Have a nice weekend!”
https://www.box.com/s/dffglzuqo0erpr53jb80 contains a copy of the attached QSL letter. Have listened to this station for many years and am very pleased to finally have a very nice confirmation of reception (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA/Cumbre)
(photo/wikimedia)

Final logs from Shanghai, China

China

All times UTC // parallel frequency *sing-on sign-off*

CNR-1 frequencies, 0807-0827, June 2, heard with the national news conference, starts with a statement read in Chinese, then into questions and answers in Chinese and English. Not broadcast on the weekend.

6200, PBS-XZDT, Lhasa, 1205-1328, May 30 & June 1, 2 and 3, with fair reception, still only with CNR-1 relay.

4905 // 4920, PBS Lhasa, May 30 & June 1, 2 and 3, with no relay of CNR-1, decent signal.

6060 // 9740 // 12015, Sichuan PBS, 1139-1245, June 1, religious choir with what sounded like Christian songs, segment of songs by kids, interview with children. June 1 was International Children's Day and a big day here in China, with parents taking their kids to the park and doing other fun things. Even in the quake area they celebrated the day. Found that most China stations today played segments of children's songs. 7225 not heard.

3280 // 4950, Shanghai PBS, *1200-1245, June 1, the SW sign-on time varies a lot, often heard hours before 1200. // 97.7 FM, which seems on 24 hours a day. Heard with many children's programs for International Children's Day.

Easy FM (CRI), follow-up detail: the "China Drive" program is broadcast twice a day, Mon.-Fri.

4900, VOS, *1200-1208, June 3, suddenly on in Amoy (clearly not Chinese), good reception. Their sign-on time does not vary.

6185, checked here a number of times after 1400 (when it's a clear frequency) looking for CHBC, but nothing was heard. 4830 always had a decent signal. (Ron Howard, Shanghai, China, Eton E5)

Indonesia
5925 and 9526, Voice of Indonesia. Glenn has recently heard and commented on the new quick change in frequencies. I observed the following:
May 22, on 9526 at 0840 (English segment)
May 28, on 9525 at 0840
May 30, on 9526 at 1340
June 2, on 9525 at 0822 (not on the air by 1134, still off at 1208)
June 3, on 9526 at 1212.
(Ron Howard, Shanghai, China, Eton E5)

North Korea

[non]. 6003, Echo of Hope, *1056-1108, May 27, on with easy-listening music, 1100 gong rung slowly 3 times, // 3985, both with strong jamming. 6003 was off the air but the heavy jamming continued anyway on May 30, they returned May 31, still with strong jamming. Do not recall 6003 being jammed this badly in the past. No jamming present on 6003 for June 1.

6020, Shiokaze, June 2, strong jamming already here before 1400 sign-on, same type of jamming as against 9940 (North Korea Reform Radio).

(Source: Ron Howard, Shanghai, China, Eton E5)

Observations from Shanghai, China

Our regular contributor Ron Howard, checks with the following observations from Shanghai, Chna. Thanks, Ron.

Greetings from Shanghai,

Monday, May 19 was the start of three days of national mourning for the victims of the Wenchuan quake. At 2:30 PM local time, everything came to a complete standstill here in Shanghai, with 3 minutes of the sounds of sirens and car horns, in honor of the victims of the quake. All the news media have continuous stories about the quake. Most of the television stations have identical coverage (one exception is CCTV-9, the English
language channel).

Radio reception consists mostly of numerous CNR-1 relays in the SW, AM and FM bands. Have observed CNR-2/China Business Radio with 24 hour relaying of CNR-1, as heard on the normal CNR-2/CBR frequencies: 91.4 FM, 6065, 6155, 7130, etc., on May 17, 18 and 19 during various times. First noticed this when I checked for the regular "English Evening" program from 13-14
UT and found the CNR-1 relay instead. The Sichuan PBS services, broadcasting from the area of the quake, continues to be on 6060, 7225 and the new 9740, heard with a relay of CNR-1 from about 1200-1232 UT. At other times they are mostly all parallel, but on May 19 noted 9740 was not parallel to anything, so assume they actually had Sichuan PBS-1 programming at 1105. 6200 continues to relay CNR-1 for 24 hours a day. Of course I hear some stations with their own programming: on 4830, CHBC at *1200 on May 19 and 4900 // 4040 with VOS at 1241 on May 19.

Would seem logical that is massive relaying of CNR-1 will continue through at least the 21th, the last day of national mourning and will probably continue on even past that date.

Ron
Shanghai, China
Eton E5