America's engine of the future to get 'Made in China' label

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Thanks to generous support from a foreign backer, there is renewed hope for an American attempt to revolutionize, modernize and sanitize the automobile engine.

The catch?  The finished product will be stamped “Made in China.”

EcoMotors, a startup engineering company based in Allen Park, Mich., plans to produce up to 150,000 of its opposed-piston, opposed-cylinder (OPOC) two-stroke engines annually in a factory funded by Zhongding Power. The facility will be located in China’s Anhui Province, west of Shanghai.

EcoMotors CEO Don Runkle told FoxNews.com that Zhongding has committed to building a plant for the engines with the hope of supplying generator companies and builders of medium-duty trucks.

“We have talked to a number of automobile manufacturers in the United States, as well as in China,” Runkle said.  He added that EcoMotors has “a letter of intent with Generac,” an American manufacturer of generators that currently buys engines from John Deere and Iveco.

Although Chinese-built generators and motorcycles are becoming more common in the United States, engines produced there have rarely seen duty in American automobiles. The first was when General Motors dropped a Chinese-made 3.4-liter V-6 into its 2005 Chevrolet Equinox and Pontiac Torrent crossovers.

In 2010, when Zhongding agreed to invest up to $18 million toward engineering costs for the OPOC engine, Runkle announced that “this initiative will create a range of high-skill R&D jobs here in southeast Michigan, further underscoring the region's critical role as the incubator of tomorrow’s high-efficiency powertrain solutions.”

The OPOC two-stroke engine is a markedly different concept than the four-stroke engines fitted to most modern automobiles. While two-strokes are generally lighter, have fewer moving parts and a higher power density than comparable four-strokes, they are often not as durable and burn a lot of oil, resulting in worse emissions. EcoMotors claims to have overcome these hurdles with its new technology.

The EcoMotors-designed power plant does without valves and cylinder heads, and places two pistons facing one another in each cylinder like boxers' gloves, with the pistons in turn connected to identical counterparts in an adjacent cylinder. The expansion stroke on one side creates a compression stroke in the other.

“Our innovation is an unusual engine architecture,” Runkle said.

The company says the motors can be configured to run on a variety of fuels, including gasoline and diesel, and will be cheaper to build while delivering between 20 and 50 percent better fuel economy than conventional internal combustion engines, depending on their application.

Production of the OPOC is set to begin in 2014.

Related: New internal combustion engine could boost electric cars

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Blind activist Chen tells US lawmakers China breaking promise

Published April 09, 2013

Associated Press

Blind activist Chen Guangcheng says China is violating its promise not to persecute his family.

Speaking before a congressional panel Tuesday, Chen said his nephew has been threatened by Yinan County officials with life imprisonment if he appeals his three-year sentence for assault.

Chen Kegui was sentenced in November in a summary trial, seen as retaliation by local officials angered by his uncle's daring escape from house arrest last April. That set off a diplomatic tussle between Beijing and Washington before the elder Chen, a self-taught rights lawyer, was allowed to leave for America.

The U.S. has said Beijing gave assurances Chen's relatives would be treated in accordance with Chinese law.

Chen says local authorities have also intimidated his nephew's family.

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Apple issues apology in China over service policies, but state media attacks seen backfiring

Published April 01, 2013

Associated Press

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  Apr. 1, 2013: A statement posted to Apple's website said complaints from China had prompted "deep reflection" and persuaded the company of the need to revamp its repair policies and boost communication with Chinese consumers.FoxNews.com / Apple.com

BEIJING –  Apple has issued an apology to Chinese consumers after government media attacked its repair policies for two weeks in a campaign that reeked of economic nationalism.

A statement posted in Chinese to Apple's website on Monday said the complaints had prompted "deep reflection" and persuaded the company of the need to revamp its repair policies, boost communication with Chinese consumers and strengthen oversight of authorized resellers.

State broadcaster CCTV and the ruling party's flagship newspaper People's Daily had led the charge and portrayed Apple as just the latest Western firm to exploit the Chinese consumer.

The attacks started backfiring almost as soon as they began and were mocked by the increasingly sophisticated Chinese consumers who revere Apple and its products. Nonetheless, Apple responded with an apology from CEO Tim Cook.

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US takes swipe at China following hacking accusations

WASHINGTON –  The U.S. has taken its first real swipe at China following accusations that the Beijing government is behind a widespread and systemic hacking campaign targeting U.S. businesses.

Buried in a spending bill signed by President Barack Obama on Tuesday is a provision that effectively bars much of the U.S. government from buying information technology made by companies linked to the Chinese government.

It's unclear what impact the legislation will have, or whether it will turn out to be a symbolic gesture. The provision only affects certain non-defense government agency budgets between now and Sept. 30, when the fiscal year ends. It also allows for exceptions if an agency head determines that buying the technology is "in the national interest of the United States."

Still, the rule could upset U.S. allies whose businesses rely on Chinese manufacturers for parts and pave the way for broader, more permanent changes in how the U.S. government buys technology.

"This is a change of direction," said Stewart Baker, a former senior official at the Homeland Security Department now with the legal firm Steptoe and Johnson in Washington. "My guess is we're going to keep going in this direction for a while."

Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he supports the restriction and doesn't think it would be too cumbersome for federal agencies. The Defense and Energy departments already are mindful of how its networks are built.

"Anything we can do to call awareness to the fact that we're continuing to be cyberattacked, we're continuing to lose jobs, and that billions of dollars in American money is being stolen," Ruppersberger said in an interview Wednesday.

In March, the U.S. computer security firm Mandiant released details on what it said was an aggressive hacking campaign on American businesses by a Chinese military unit. Since then, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has used high-level meetings with Beijing officials to press the matter. Beijing has denied the allegations.

Congressional leaders have promised to push comprehensive legislation that would make it easier for industry to share threat data with the government. But those efforts have been bogged down amid concerns that too much of U.S. citizens' private information could end up in the hands of the federal government.

As Congress and privacy advocates debate a way ahead, lawmakers tucked "section 516" into the latest budget resolution, which enables the government to pay for day-to day operations for the rest of the fiscal year. The provision specifically prohibits the Commerce and Justice departments, NASA and the National Science Foundation from buying an information technology system that is "produced, manufactured or assembled" by any entity that is "owned, operated or subsidized" by the People's Republic of China.

The agencies can only acquire the technology if, in consulting with the FBI, they determine that there is no risk of "cyberespionage or sabotage associated with the acquisition of the system," according to the legislation.

The move might sound like a no-brainer. If U.S. industry and intelligence officials are right, and China is stealing America's corporate secrets at a breathtaking pace, why reward Beijing with lucrative U.S. contracts? Furthermore, why install technical equipment that could potentially give China a secret backdoor into federal systems?

In late 2012, Ruppersberger and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, a Republican, released a report urging U.S. companies and government agencies to drop any business with Chinese telecommunications companies Huawei Technologies Ltd. and ZTE Corp. because of the security risks they pose.

"Any bug, beacon or backdoor put into our critical systems could allow for a catastrophic and devastating domino effect of failures throughout our networks," Rogers said in a statement accompanying the report.

But a blanket prohibition on technology linked to the Chinese government may be easier said than done. Information systems are often a complicated assembly of parts manufactured by different companies around the globe. And investigating where each part came from, and if that part is made by a company that could have ties to the Chinese government could be difficult.

Huawei, the third-largest maker of smartphones, says it is owned by its employees and rejects claims that it is controlled by the communist government or China's military.

Depending on how the Obama administration interprets the law, Baker said it also could cause problems for the U.S. with the World Trade Organization, whose members include U.S. allies like Germany and Britain that might rely on Chinese technology to build computers or handsets.

But in the end, Baker says it could make the U.S. government safer and wiser.

"We do have to worry about buying equipment from companies that may not have our best interests at heart," he said.

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South Korea misidentifies China as origin of cyberattacks

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  March 20, 2013: A customer sits in a branch of Shinhan Bank in Seoul, South Korea, while the bank's computer networks are paralyzed.AP

NEW YORK –  South Korean investigators said Friday they had mistakenly identified a Chinese Internet address as the source of a cyberattack that paralyzed tens of thousands of computers at banks and broadcasters earlier this week. But they said they still believe the attack originated from abroad.

The error by South Korean regulators raises questions about their ability to track down the source of an attack that hit 32,000 computers at six companies Wednesday and exposed South Korea's Internet security and vulnerability to hackers.

South Korean investigators said Thursday that a malicious code that spread through the server of one target, Nonghyup Bank, was traced to an Internet Protocol address in China. Even then it was clear that the attack could have originated somewhere else, because such data can easily be manipulated by hackers. Experts suspect North Korea was behind the attack.

The state-run Korea Communications Commission said Friday that the IP address actually belonged to a computer at the bank. The IP address was used only for the company's internal network and was identical to a public Chinese address.

"We were careless in our efforts to double-check and triple-check," KCC official Lee Seung-won told reporters. "We will now make announcements only if our evidence is certain."

Commission officials said an analysis of malware and servers indicates the attack was likely orchestrated from abroad. They didn't elaborate.

Yonhap news agency, in an analysis Friday, called the blunder "ridiculous" and said the announcement is certain to undermine the government's credibility.

Experts in Seoul suspect North Korea in the attack on broadcasters YTN, MBC and KBS, as well as Nonghyup and two other banks. Seoul alleges six cyberattacks by North Korea on South Korean targets since 2009. But the investigation will take weeks, and officials say they have no proof yet of Pyongyang's involvement.

South Korean officials say that Wednesday's attacks appeared to come from "a single organization" but they have yet to assign blame. North Korea hasn't yet mentioned the shutdown.

South Korea has set up a team of computer security experts from the government, military and private sector since to identify the hackers and is preparing to deal with more possible attacks, presidential spokesman Yoon Chang-jung told reporters earlier Friday. He didn't elaborate on the possibility of more attacks.

Determining who's behind a digital attack is often difficult. But North Korea is a leading suspect for several reasons.

It has unleashed a torrent of threats against Seoul and Washington since punishing U.N. sanctions were imposed for Pyongyang's Feb. 12 nuclear test. It calls ongoing routine U.S.-South Korean military drills a threat to its existence. Pyongyang also threatened revenge after blaming Seoul and Washington for a separate Internet shutdown that disrupted its own network last week.

The cyberattack did not affect South Korea's government, military or infrastructure, and there were no initial reports that customers' bank records were compromised. But it disabled cash machines and disrupted commerce in this tech-savvy, Internet-dependent country.

All three of the banks that were hit were back online and operating regularly Friday. It could be next week before the broadcasters' systems have fully recovered, though they said their programming was never affected.

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Former NASA contractor arrested on plane to China

Published March 18, 2013

Associated Press

NORFOLK, Va. –  A Chinese national who worked at NASA's Langley Research Center has been arrested on a plane bound for Beijing on charges of lying to federal agents.

Bo Jiang made his initial appearance Monday in Norfolk federal court. It wasn't immediately clear whether Jiang had an attorney.

U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf says Jiang wasn't employed by NASA, but worked at the Hampton, Va. facility for the National Institute of Aerospace.

An affidavit says Jiang was under investigation for possible violations of the Arms Control Export Act.

The affidavit says Jiang was arrested aboard a plane at Dulles International Airport on Saturday when he failed to disclose all of the electronics he was taking with him.

The affidavit says Jiang had previously taken a NASA laptop to China that contained sensitive information.

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White House announces anti-theft trade strategy following alleged China hacking

The Obama administration announced a broad new effort Wednesday to fight the growing theft of American trade secrets following fresh evidence linking cyberstealing to China's military. 

The plan includes a new diplomatic push to discourage intellectual property theft abroad along with better coordination at home to help U.S. companies protect themselves. The administration says indications are that economic espionage is increasing, not only through electronic intrusion over the Internet but also through the recruitment of former employees of U.S. companies with knowledge of inside trade information. 

"Trade secret theft threatens American businesses, undermines national security and places the security of the U.S. economy in jeopardy," said a report from the White House. "These acts also diminish U.S. export prospects around the globe and put American jobs at risk." 

Earlier this week, a suburban cybersecurity firm, Mandiant, accused a secret Chinese military unit in Shanghai of years of cyberattacks against more than 140 U.S. companies. The accusations and supporting evidence increased pressure on the United States to take more action against the Chinese for what experts say has been years of systematic espionage. 

The Chinese government denied being involved in cybertheft, with China's defense minister calling the Mandiant report deeply flawed. China's Foreign Ministry said that country has also been a victim of hacking, much of it traced to the United States. 

Wednesday's Obama administration report did not specifically target any one violator, but the China problem is evident in the case studies it cited. Those examples did not involve cyberattacks, but rather the theft of hundreds of millions of dollars in trade secrets by former employees of U.S. corporations including Ford Motor Co., DuPont Co., General Motors Corp., Cargill, Dow Chemical Co., Valspar and Motorola. 

President Barack Obama signed an executive order last week aimed at helping protect the computer networks of American industries from cyberattacks. It called for the development of voluntary standards to protect the computer systems that run critical sectors of the economy such as the banking, power and transportation industries. It directed U.S. defense and intelligence agencies to share classified threat data with those companies. 

He also prodded Congress during his State of the Union address to go further. 

"Now, Congress must act as well by passing legislation to give our government a greater capacity to secure our networks and deter attacks," Obama said. 

The president said America's enemies are "seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions and our air traffic control systems. We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy." 

The new report was short on specific consequences for trade secret theft, with no new fines or other trade actions announced. It included five actions to protect American innovation: 

-- Applying diplomatic pressure by senior officials to foreign leaders to discourage theft. 

-- Promoting best practices to help industries protect against theft. 

-- Enhancing U.S. law enforcement operations to increase investigations and prosecutions. 

-- Reviewing U.S. laws to determine if they need to be strengthened to protect against theft. 

-- Beginning a public awareness campaign.

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