In response to widespread Western negative reaction and pushback, Xina has attempted to duck beneath the radar by relabeling its scheme to poach intellectuals and steal intellectual property. The current iteration of the program is called Qiming, administered by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
The Thousand Talents Plan or Thousand Talents Program (TTP), or Overseas High-Level Talent Recruitment Programs was established in 2008 by the central government of China to recognize and recruit leading international experts in scientific research, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Both the United States and Canada have warned that China intends to use scientists who are involved with this plan to gain access to new technology for economic and military advantage.
The success of the program in recruiting U.S.-trained scientists back to China has been viewed with concern from the U.S., with a June 2018 report from the National Intelligence Council declaring an underlying motivation of the program to be “to facilitate the legal and illicit transfer of US technology, intellectual property and know-how” to China.
In January 2020, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Charles M. Lieber, the chair of Harvard University's Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, for lying about his ties to the program.
In May 2020, the FBI arrested a former researcher at the Cleveland Clinic for failing to disclose ties to the Thousand Talents Program.
In June 2020, it was reported that the National Institutes of Health had investigations into the behavior of 189 scientists. In November 2020, Song Guo Zheng, a TTP participant, pled guilty to making false claims to the FBI about his ties to the Chinese government during his employment at Ohio State University.
In November 2019, the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held an open hearing on the China's Talent Recruitment Plans, including the TTP, and called the programs a threat to national security. The report from the hearing cited TTP contracts as violating research values, TTP members willfully failing to disclose their membership to their home institutions, and cited numerous cases against TTP members for theft of intellectual property and fraud. One TTP member stole proprietary defense information on U.S. military jet engines. The report indicated that "TTP targets U.S.-based researchers and scientists, regardless of ethnicity or citizenship, who focus on or have access to cutting-edge research and technology."
In August 2020, Canadian Security Intelligence Service warned both Canadian universities and Canadian research institutions of the TTP, saying that it recruited researchers and scientists around the world to persuade them to share their research and technology — either willingly or by coercion.
1000 Talent Plan professorship is the highest academic honor awarded by the State Council, analogous to the top-level award given by the Ministry of Education. The program includes two mechanisms: resources for permanent recruitment into Chinese academia, and resources for short-term appointments that typically target international experts who have full-time employment at a leading international university or research laboratory.
The program has three categories:
Innovative 1000 Talents plan (Long term / Short term) – for Chinese scholars below 55 years of age
Foreign 1000 Talents plan (Long term / Short term) – for foreigners only below 55 years of age
Young scholar 1000 Talents plan or Overseas Young Talents Project of China — for those below 40 years of age
The program has been praised for recruiting top international talent to China, but also criticized for being ineffective at retaining the talent.
Conflict of interest and fraud concerns: Although the program has successfully attracted top international talent to China, its efficacy in retaining these talented individuals has been questioned, with many of the most talented scientists willing to spend short periods in China but unwilling to abandon their tenured positions at major Western universities. Additionally, some Thousand Talents Plan Professors have reported fraud in the program including misappropriated grant funding, poor accommodations, and violations of research ethics. Dismissals due to undisclosed connections to the TTP have taken place. Individuals who receive either of China's two top academic awards, the Thousand Talents Professorship and the Changjiang (Yangtze River) Scholar award, have become targets for recruitment by China's wealthiest universities so frequently that the Ministry of Education issued notices in both 2013 and 2017 discouraging Chinese universities from recruiting away top talent from one another [poaching].
Commenter: [dubious] "As a Chinese, I know the main motivation of this process of adjustment is to meet the challenges of the USA decoupling, which makes the government realize that many industry sectors are already in danger. That key strategy is to reduce the importance of real estate and financial assets, Internet and virtual economy, in order to improve the weakening manufactures and consumer sectors. It has been on the top list for years, and the US challenges just happen to accelerate its implementation."
The Chinese government has unveiled a five-year plan outlining [even] tighter regulation of much of its economy. It says new rules will be introduced covering areas including national security, technologyand monopolies in the world's second largest economy. The plan comes soon after Beijing started targeting the technology and education industries.
The 10-point plan, which runs to the end of 2025, was released jointly late on 21-8-11 by China's State Council and the Communist Party's Central Committee. It said laws will be strengthened for "important fields" such as science and technological innovation, culture and education. The plan also said the Chinese government aims to tackle monopolies and "foreign-related rule of law".
Regulations relating to China's digital economy, including "internet finance, artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing etc." will also be reviewed. The announcement raised fresh concerns that Beijing's crackdown on technology and private education companies is set to continue and expand in years to come. Shares in many Chinese companies listed in the US, Hong Kong and mainland China have fallen sharply this year as investors' concerns grow over the crackdown.
The European Union and Xina have signed an investment deal in principle. The deal is set to rebalance the relationship that the two blocks have. Xina’s forced technology transfers and other discriminatory practices against European firms will be brought to an end – on paper.
Despite being welcomed by businesses, the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment falls short on tackling human rights issues in Xina, which will lead to backlash on the deal within the European Parliament. Opposition by the United States, which wants Europe to pursue a common policy with it on Xina and from the European public may yet scupper the deal.
When the first members of the American Expeditionary Force arrived in France in 1917 they found that the telephone lines already in operation were overloaded. To solve the problem, John J Pershing called for experienced, bilingual switchboard operators, which meant women. Hundreds would don the uniform and answer the call as “Hello Girls”, serving in the Signal Corps.
The dam was designed and built between 1924 and 1926 by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, then named the Bureau of Water Works and Supply. The department was under the direction of its general manager and chief engineer, William Mulholland.
At 11:57 p.m. on March 12, 1928, the dam catastrophically failed, and the resulting flood killed at least 431 people. The collapse of the St. Francis Dam is considered to be one of the worst American civil engineering disasters of the 20th century and remains the second-greatest loss of life in California's history, after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. The disaster marked the end of Mulholland's career.
Fighter development
The Evolution of the Fighter in World War II: The World War II period saw the development of the fighter aircraft from the biplane through to the introduction of the first jet fighter aircraft. Aircraft featured in this volume include the Mustang, Spitfire, Hurricane, Bf 109, Bf 110, P-40, P-38 and A6M Zero.
A prototype of Russia's prospective fighter jet was displayed at the MAKS-2021 International Aviation and Space Salon in Zhukovsky outside Zhukovsky, Russia, July 20, 2021.
A prototype was unveiled at the 2021 MAKS air show with President of RussiaVladimir Putin in attendance. The Checkmate's maiden flight is expected in 2023 and initial deliveries are planned for 2026-2027. The Checkmate is designed to be low cost and for export, and may compete with the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II and Shenyang FC-31 aircraft of the same light to medium-weight category. Production is forecast to be 300 planes over 15 years.
According to the chief executive of Rostec, Sergei Chemezov, the LTS ‘Checkmate’ Fighter Jet is expected to cost US $25-30 million each. Rostec is anticipating that Argentina, India and Vietnam are primary export destinations of the aircraft, as well as some African countries could buy the aircraft.
The Sukhoi Su-57 (Сухой Су-57; NATO reporting name: Felon) is a single-seat, twin-engine stealth multirole fighter developed by Sukhoi for the Russian Aerospace Forces. The aircraft is the product of the PAK FA (ПАК ФА, short for: Перспективный авиационный комплекс фронтовой авиации, Perspektivny Aviatsionny Kompleks Frontovoy Aviatsii, lit. ''prospective aeronautical complex of front-line air forces'') fighter programme that would form the basis for a family of stealth combat aircraft. Sukhoi's internal designation for the aircraft is T-50. The Su-57 is the first fighter in Russian military service to feature stealth technology.
According to Sukhoi, the multirole fighter is designed to have supercruise, supermaneuverability, stealth, and integrated avionics to overcome the previous generations fighter aircraft as well as ground and naval defences. The Su-57 is intended to succeed the MiG-29 and Su-27 in the Russian Air Force and entered service in December 2020. The fighter is expected to have a service life of up to 35 years.
Overhyped? 00:00 - Intro 00:38 - Expert: Justin Bronk 00:58 - Russian Air Power since Cold War 05:53 - Technical difference: East vs West 11:35 - Su57: Russian Stealth 15:06 - The Scary Stuff 21:31 - Major recent changes for Russian Aerospace 27:17 - Recommendations
