A plan by a group of Chinese military and business institutions to invest US$471 million to set up a venture capital fund aims to secure high-end military technology by circumventing US sanctions, a defense expert said on Friday.
The plan shows Beijing’s ambitions to cultivate a domestic military supply chain at a time when it has stepped up its threats against Taiwan, said Yang I Kwei (楊一逵), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a think tank affiliated with the Ministry of National Defense.
Yang’s comments came after Guangzhou Haige Communications Group (廣州海格通信集團), which provides communications and navigation equipment to the Chinese military, on April 7 announced that it would partner with China Poly Group (中國保利集團公司) and other entities to set up a venture capital fund, valued at 3 billion yuan (US$471 million), for the development of military equipment.
Photo: Reuters
Haige Communications, whose predecessor was a military ordnance factory, counts China’s army, navy and air force among its customers, and has participated in the development of the BeiDou Satellite Navigation System.
It is an important supplier of war simulation and pilot training systems to the Chinese military, Yang said.
China Poly is among 102 state-owned enterprises under the supervision of the Chinese Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.
It has served as an importer and exporter of military equipment for China, Yang said.
Participants in the planned venture fund have close ties with Chinese authorities, he said, adding that China Poly is one of its largest controlling institutions.
Poly Technologies (保利科技有限公司), a subsidiary of China Poly, is the largest state-owned supplier of military equipment, missile technologies and drones to the Chinese military, Yang said.
The planned fund is expected to serve as a platform for the Chinese military to enhance its technology competition with the US, which could help Beijing skirt Washington’s sanctions and even secure technology from the US, he said.
The COVID-19 pandemic, US sanctions against Beijing and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted many venture capitalists to flee Asia, Yang said.
Chinese authorities likely want the planned fund to re-energize the domestic capital venture market, and boost information and communications development in a bid to commercialize technology, he said.
The Chinese military’s efforts in information and communications technology development could enhance Beijing’s supervision and control of personal information and pose a larger threat to democracies, he added.
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
RSS