China's Military Flexes Muscles With Putin Ally
Newsweek has contacted Serbia's Defense Ministry for further comment via email.
Serbia-which is not a member of the European Union-has maintained close ties with both Russia and China, with President Aleksandar Vučić describing China as "Serbia's most precious friend."
The training is part of the growing military cooperation between the countries. The East Asian power provided air defense systems to the Balkan nation to help protect its airspace, raising concerns in the United States about Serbia's path toward European integration.
In addition to rapidly building up its capabilities, the Chinese military has strengthened its relations with foreign counterparts through bilateral activities. From mid-April to early May, the Chinese and Egyptian air forces conducted joint training in the North African country.
Jiang Bin, a spokesperson for the Chinese Defense Ministry, said on Monday that China would host the Peace Guardian-2025 joint training in Hebei Province-near the capital city of Beijing-in the second half of July, involving Chinese and Serbian army special forces.
"This will be the first joint training between Chinese and Serbian militaries," the Chinese military official said, adding that the bilateral activity would help strengthen the combat capabilities of participating troops and deepen cooperation between the two armed forces.
However, details of the training-including its content and duration-remain unclear. Neither China nor Serbia has announced the arrival of Serbian army special forces in China.
Prior to the announcement of the training, the Chinese state-run Global Times published an interview on July 10 with Serbian Lieutenant Colonel Dalibor Aleksic, who commands an air defense unit operating two China-supplied weapon systems: the FK-3 and the HQ-17AE.
The Serbian military officer said both Chinese air defense systems were satisfactory, praising their combat capabilities, performance, reliability, and ease of use and maintenance.
Serbia's acquisition of Chinese air defense systems contributed to the further strengthening of friendship and cooperation between the two nations, Aleksic told Global Times, adding that, as a weapons expert, he was also fascinated by "many other Chinese weapon systems."
Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić in May: "China is ready to deepen strategic communication with Serbia, enhance mutual support, strengthen cooperation in trade and investment, continue supporting the construction and operation of relevant projects, give full play to their demonstrative effect, and achieve more outcomes that deliver mutual benefit and win-win results."
Vuk Vuksanovic, a senior researcher at the Belgrade Center for Security Policy, told RFE/RL's Balkan Service in May 2024: "Serbia has demonstrated once again that China, not Russia, is its most important partner in the East at the moment, especially with Russian-Serbian ties under constant scrutiny because of Ukraine."
While Serbia is likely to make additional purchases of Chinese military equipment, it remains to be seen whether China will send its troops to Serbia for joint training in the future.
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Hamilton Spectator
30 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
El Salvador opens path for Bukele to stay in power indefinitely. Why critics aren't surprised
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador's Legislative Assembly pushed through a constitutional reform overnight eliminating presidential term limits, fueling concerns Friday that it paves the way for President Nayib Bukele to indefinitely stay in power. Watchdogs and critics of the self-described 'world's coolest dictator' said they've seen this coming for years, watching Bukele's administration slowly chip away at democratic institutions, attack opponents and consolidate power in the president's hands. Bukele, who regularly posts streams of tongue-in-cheek remarks on social media, remained notably silent Friday. His government didn't respond to multiple requests for comment. 'It's not surprising. But that doesn't mean it's not severe,' said Claudia Ortiz, one of the country's few remaining opposition lawmakers. 'The implication of this is more concentration of power, more risk of abuse of the rights of Salvadorans ... and the complete dismantling of all democratic checks and balances.' Here's what happened overnight in El Salvador On Thursday night, Bukele's New Ideas party and its allies approved changes to El Salvador's constitution, which were jammed through Congress by the party's supermajority. The changes will: 1. Allow for indefinite presidential reelection, wiping out an existing ban on reelection that Bukele dodged last year when he sought reelection. 2. Extend presidential terms to six years from five. 3. Eliminate the second round of elections, where the two top vote-getters from the first round face off. The vote passed with 57 in favor and three opposed. Damian Merlo, a U.S. lobbyist and consultant hired by Bukele's administration, defended the changes, noting that many European countries don't have term limits, and said the move only gives Bukele the option of reelection, not an automatic extension of his mandate. 'It's up to the people to decide who the leader will be,' Merlo said. 'It's been made very clear by the electorate they are very happy with the president and his political party — and this move represents the will of the people of El Salvador.' Why watchdogs aren't surprised Ortiz, the opposition congresswoman, called the defense 'absurd,' and said that Merlo was citing countries — Germany and France — with democratic systems of government answering to the countries' parliaments. In El Salvador, power is now entirely concentrated in the hands of Bukele, she said. Bukele, 44, was first elected president in 2019 after founding the New Ideas party, casting aside the country's traditional parties thoroughly discredited by corruption and lack of results. Bukele's highly controlled messaging of beating back the country's gangs and rooting out corruption have gained traction in El Salvador, especially as homicide rates have sharply dropped. But critics say many of the moves he has justified as tackling corruption and violence have actually whittled away at the country's democracy. Over the years, his attacks on opponents and critics have gradually escalated. In recent months, things have come to a head as Bukele has grown emboldened by his new alliance with U.S. President Donald Trump . A number of high profile arrests and a slew of other actions have forced more than 100 members of civil society — lawyers, activists and journalists — to flee their country as political exiles in the span of months. A look back at some of the actions he's taken 4. 2020: Bukele showed up to the country's Legislative Assembly with armed soldiers to pressure lawmakers to approve one of his proposals. 5. 2021: a newly elected legislature controlled by his party purged the country's courts , including the Supreme Court. The lawmakers stacked the courts with loyalists. 6. 2022: Bukele announced a 'state of emergency' to beat back El Salvador's gangs. The move suspended some constitutional rights, and has allowed the government to arrest 86,000 Salvadorans — more than 1% of the country's population — with little evidence. Detainees held in prisons have little access to due process. The government also passed an elections redistricting law that critics said would stack elections in favor of Bukele's party, which was already very popular. 7. 2023: Bukele opened a mega-prison for gangs, known as the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), where Venezuelan deportees from the U.S. were detained for months this year. The prison has been the source of accusations of mass human rights abuses . 8. 2024: Bukele sought reelection, despite El Salvador's constitution clearly blocking consecutive presidential terms. In an interview with The Associated Press, the country's vice president denied last year that El Salvador had become a police state and refused to answer questions about whether he and Bukele would seek a third term. Following his landslide victory, Bukele railed against critics and press. Intensifying his crackdown in 2025 This year, watchdogs have warned that Bukele has ramped up his crackdown on dissent, emboldened by his new alliance with Trump. 9. In May, police violently repressed a peaceful protest near Bukele's house asking the president for help in stopping the eviction of their rural community. 10. Shortly after, the government announced it was passing a 'foreign agents' law, similar to those used by governments in Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Belarus to silence dissent by exerting pressure on organizations that rely on overseas funding. 11. Police have arrested a number of high profile critics. Among them was Ruth López, an anti-corruption lawyer for a top human rights organization. At a court appearance in June, a shackled López escorted by police shouted: 'They're not going to silence me, I want a public trial. ... I'm a political prisoner.' The government also arrested prominent constitutional lawyer Enrique Anaya after he called Bukele a 'dictator' and a 'despot' on live TV. 12. In July, López's organization Cristosal announced it was evacuating all staff from El Salvador in the face of intensifying repression. It comes amid a flight of critics and other civil society leaders. What critics saying The recent constitutional reform has fueled a new wave of criticism by civil society in the Central American nation, with leaders saying that Bukele's government has finally done away with one of its last democratic norms. Roxana Cardona, a lawyer and spokeswoman for the Movement of Social Justice and Citizen Control, said 'a democratic state has been transformed into an autocracy.' Cardona was among those to provide legal representation for Venezuelans detained in El Salvador and other Salvadoran youth accused of being gang members. 'Today, democracy has died. A technocracy has been born. Today, we live in a dictatorship,' she said. Others, like human rights lawyer Jayme Magaña, said the idea of alternating power, crucial in a country that still has decades of civil war and dictatorships of the past simmering in its recent memory, has been broken. Magaña said she worried for the future. 'The more changes are made to the system of government, the more we see the state's repression of the Salvadoran population intensifying,' she said. —— Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
China just bet $2 billion on fusion energy. The US must respond.
China has just placed a major new national bet on commercializing fusion energy, and now is the time for the U.S. to respond. Chinese state and industrial leaders are positioning the country to lead the world in innovation. They're working to replicate the ecosystem of ideas and invention that has made the U.S. so special on the world's stage, touching billions of lives with core technologies like the automobile and the internet. Doing so supports China's own economic development and extends the country's long-term geopolitical influence, the exact same advantages the innovation ecosystem brought to the U.S. over the last century. The Chinese effort is forward-looking, placing bets on the technologies that will dominate the global economy for generations. That means funding both for basic research areas like life sciences, materials science, and quantum computing and for applied research in areas like semiconductors, electric vehicles, AI, batteries — and fusion, the last new energy source humanity will need. This week, China took a major new step down that path of progress with about $2.1 billion in new funding that positions Shanghai-based company China Fusion Energy Co. as the central state-controlled commercialization vehicle for fusion in China. China Fusion Energy Co. links expertise from major universities, industrial powers and state-owned energy companies — several of which are investors in the new company. Their aim — develop a Chinese fusion industry. As one Chinese press report put it, 'the national team has arrived.' This is a direct competitor to the company I co-founded and have been building for the last seven years. Like Commonwealth Fusion Systems, the Chinese effort aims to build a fusion device called a tokamak to generate electricity. Also like Commonwealth, this effort will use high-temperature superconductors, an approach that enables a more compact and therefore competitive power plant. It's highly validating that our technical approach is very promising, but it also shows that coordinated state action has now fully entered the race for fusion energy. From afar, it can be hard to understand exactly what China's blend of government and private efforts is doing. It's clear, though, they are organized and well resourced. Some of their fusion work is significant enough that you can see the facilities from space. Add China Fusion Energy Co. to the list of signals that China understands the importance of fusion and is moving aggressively to lead the race to develop it. 'This is a clear signal that Beijing is consolidating its fusion efforts into a full-scale, nationally coordinated industrial strategy,' concludes RAND analyst Jimmy Goodrich, who tracks Chinese science and innovation efforts closely. We've seen this movie before. China's manufacturing might, deep supply chains, workforce development and centrally driven development has let it dominate new industries like solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles. Many of these technologies were invented in the U.S. In contrast, the U.S. government isn't keeping up when it comes to fusion. A recent report by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office found that only about 1 percent of Department of Energy-funded fusion efforts supported commercialization — through the department's modestly funded Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program. If the U.S. is to compete with other nations in the race to commercialize fusion, the federal government needs to radically improve its commitment to deploying fusion. We know other ways Congress and the administration could help fusion besides funding the Milestone program to match the ambition of China and other competitors. The Department of Energy Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee in 2020 published a new long-range plan — ' Powering the Future: Fusion and Plasmas ' — that details the research facilities that could help all fusion energy companies deploy power plants and scale more quickly. But it's China, not the U.S., that's building these research test stands and facilities the U.S. fusion industry needs to accelerate fusion's deployment and rapid scaling. Energy unlocks prosperity for people, businesses and nations. Whoever controls that energy commands an outsized impact on the world and on the future of everyone who lives on it. Right now Washington is focusing on American energy dominance, powering AI and improving energy security. It's clear what the government could do to cultivate that instead of its present course that fails to respond to Chinese energy dominance for fusion.
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Colleges must speak up for their Chinese students
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said all the right things last week after Hong Kong issued arrest warrants for 19 pro-democracy activists in other countries, including in the U.S. 'The extraterritorial targeting of Hong Kongers who are exercising their fundamental freedoms is a form of transnational oppression,' Rubio declared in a statement. 'We will not tolerate the Hong Kong government's attempts to apply its national security laws to silence or intimidate Americans or anyone on U.S. soil.' But we already tolerate the transnational oppression of one large group on our soil: Chinese students. And for the most part, our universities have kept silent about that. That's because of the billions of dollars that Chinese students bring to American colleges, of course. We're already facing an expected decline in Chinese enrollment because of the Trump administration's threats against international students, which higher-education leaders have rightly condemned. But if we really cared about those students — and not just their tuition fees — we would also speak out against the Chinese government's extraterritorial targeting of their fundamental freedoms. Anything less makes us look petty, scared and small. In a report issued last year — titled 'On my campus, I am afraid' — Amnesty International showed how Chinese and Hong Kong students in the U.S. and Europe faced surveillance and intimidation from Chinese authorities. Students reported being photographed and followed at protests, and that their families back home had been harassed. At Georgetown, for example, a Chinese law student who handed out pamphlets denouncing China's 'zero-COVID' policies was videotaped by members of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association, an organization sponsored by the Chinese government. They told him that the pictures would be sent to security officials in China. And soon after that, his family was interrogated and warned that they could face penalties if he continued to speak out. None of this is news, unfortunately. In 2021, ProPublica reported that Chinese intelligence agents were using local informants to threaten and harass students in America. Some Chinese students said they avoided taking courses with other students from their country, because they did not know who was working for the government — and who might report on them. And in 2020, when COVID forced universities to move online, the Wall Street Journal revealed that some professors had told Chinese students that they wouldn't be evaluated on class participation. The faculty didn't want their students to feel the need to speak up and risk getting on the wrong side of Chinese security officials, who were likely monitoring them on Zoom. 'There is no way I can say to my students, 'You can say whatever you want on the phone call and you are totally free and safe,'' one Harvard professor admitted. But most of our university leaders are keeping quiet about the matter. They don't want to take any risks, either, with so much money at stake. A welcome exception is Purdue University, which denounced Chinese spying after ProPublica revealed that one of its students was harassed by security agents for posting a letter about the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. That's a taboo topic in China, which has prohibited public discussion and commemoration of the event. 'Any student found to have reported another student to any foreign entity for exercising their freedom of speech or belief will be subject to significant sanction,' declared Mitch Daniels, Purdue's president at the time. 'We regret that we were unaware at the time of these events and had to learn of them from national sources,' Daniels added, referring to the 2021 ProPublica report. The rest of us have no excuse, especially now. Everything we have learned over the last four years confirms the same fact: China is intimidating students at our institutions. And so is the Trump administration, of course. It has arrested and deported international students who made pro-Palestinian comments. And it has been screening the social media accounts of student visa applicants to find 'any indications of hostility toward the citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles of the United States.' Nobody knows what that means, so applicants have been scrubbing their accounts of material about Barack Obama, Kamala Harris and anything else that might put them in the administration's crosshairs. To me, that sounds more like China than America. Our most important founding principle is freedom of expression. And we are flouting it by harassing our international students, even as we accuse them of being hostile to it. But we can't make a persuasive case against Trump's assault on freedom if we ignore the Chinese attacks on it. Anticipating that many international students won't be allowed to come here, some universities — including my own — are creating online courses and programs to serve them. That's a great gesture, but it also leaves the students even more vulnerable to harassment by internet snoops back home. And that's why we have to speak up for the students and make it clear that we won't tolerate intimidation of them, just as Rubio said. Thomas Jefferson — who knew something about America's founding principles — swore 'eternal hostility against every form of tyranny.' He didn't care where it came from. Neither should we.
