November 14, 2006: The U.S. Navy admitted that a Chinese submarine had shown up, "close" to one of its carriers during a recent training exercise off Okinawa last month. The Americans pitched the incident as a warning that the American and Chinese navies should coordinate their movements on the high seas to avoid any accidents. Chinese submarine sailors, on the other hand, were celebrating a great victory. The Song class sub (a Chinese made boat), had gotten past U.S. patrols, and come close enough to the USS Kitty Hawk, to launch an attack with anti-ship missiles. This was a first for a Chinese sub, something the American admirals wanted to play down. During the Cold War, Russian subs regularly shadowed American carrier task forces.



November 3, 2006: The booming production of heroin is Afghanistan has resulted in more heroin coming into China. Over the Summer, police in northwest China caught several dozen Pakistani, Afghan and African heroin smugglers. The drugs were headed for coastal cities, where plenty of money, and people looking for ways to spend it, provides a strong market for drugs like heroin. For generations, the main source of heroin was warlord producers along the Burmese border region. But Afghan heroin has become more plentiful and cheaper. Thus there is apparently a sharp increase in the addict population (currently about five million), and the spread of AIDs and other diseases because of needle sharing. China sees this heroin invasion as a national security issue, and is looking for ways to stop the problem.