Category: China

This will probably be one of a few areas that the Chinese will retaliate against the ROK for the decision to deploy THAAD:

Speculation is rife that China will target K-pop stars in retaliation against Seoul’s decision to install an American-made missile defense system on the Korean peninsula.  K-pop stars could be the unlikely first casualties of Seoul’s decision to deploy a U.S.-made missile defense system on the Korean peninsula, despite vocal opposition from China.

Speculation is rife that China will retaliate by limiting South Korean media and stars from its huge entertainment market.

According to two sources cited by the South China Morning Post, China’s national media regulator informed TV stations in Guangdong Province that TV shows featuring South Korean pop stars would not be granted approval to air “in the near future.”

Meanwhile, shares in South Korean entertainment companies took a dive Tuesday as investors bet that the firms would be hit by impending restrictions from China. SM Entertainment Co., known for such K-pop super-groups as Girls’ Generation, closed down 5.3 percent, according to Bloomberg. YG Entertainment Corp., the company known for producing Psy, fell 8 percent.  [Hollywood Reporter]

You can read more at the link, but the ROK has been through this before with China retaliating against them with trade restrictions such as during the Great Kimchi War of 2005.

China has a long ways to go to restore their “Shang Guo” status in South Korea if they continue to be viewed as regional bullies which is once again how they appear with their recent reactions to both the South China Sea International Court ruling and the decision to deploy THAAD to South Korea:

In the past, China was both “da guo” and “shang guo” to Koreans. China was a powerful and highly civilized nation that smaller neighboring countries admired. This involved a historical mentality of respect that Koreans attached in reverence to a big and powerful country. But not anymore. The Chinese authors conclude: “For South Koreans, today’s ‘shang guo’ is the United States, not China” (p. 179).

The authors call on China to reclaim its high position that commands respect from Koreans by establishing superiority.

“Therefore, until the time when China completely establishes its superiority to South Korea, the (negative) image South Koreans have about China will not likely have a fundamental shift.” (p. 186–87).

Since the Chinese authors did not elaborate on it further, there is no way to know what they meant by “establishing superiority to South Korea.” This could mean that China would need to upgrade its soft-power leverage toward South Korea. This could also indicate China’s determination to outstrip South Korea in terms of economic, political and cultural prowess, a position that would make South Koreans feel overwhelmed, like in the old days. Or, it may refer to its willingness to use physical means to subjugate South Korea. The interpretation is open, debatable and includes uncertainty. This ambiguity is unhelpful as it generates uneasiness in the minds of South Koreans toward China’s future power projections.

Overall, the book reads very much like a self-conscious image-journal of China, baffled by why South Korea, its former tributary, does not revere the Middle Kingdom emperor anymore. I think this is a loaded question that the Chinese already know the answer to. Just look at the widespread panic in South Korea regarding China’s “imminent” retaliation over THAAD. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but the way the ruling communist party has promoted nationalism to cement their legitimacy they can’t afford to be malevolent towards South Korea.

And by BREAKING, they mean "something China has said over and over since at least 2015." https://t.co/eNGwMXWaUy

— Erik Slavin (@eslavin_stripes) July 13, 2016

There may be tensions between the countries in the Pacific region with China due to their territorial grab in the South China Sea, but those tensions are being put aside in order to work together during the 2016 RIMPAC exercise kicking off in Hawaii:

The hot topic for the Rim of the Pacific remains unchanged from the last version of the maritime exercise in 2014: China.

This marks the second time China has been a full participant in RIMPAC, bringing five ships compared with two in 2014, and the country will play a much larger role.

During a Tuesday news conference kicking off the six-week exercise — the largest so far — Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Scott Swift was flanked by top commanders from many of the 26 participating nations. Beside him was Vice Adm. Nora Tyson, commander of the U.S. Third Fleet, who is heading the exercise’s combined task force.

Swift’s opening remarks didn’t mention China by name, but his first talking point echoed repeated calls by U.S. civilian and military officials to maintain the U.S.-led status quo in the Pacific region in response to ever-greater Chinese military might.

“[RIMPAC] brings together 26 nations from North and South America, Europe, Asia and Oceania,” Swift said. “This is what the international maritime community does in ensuring the norms, standards, rules and laws that have provided the great stability and security — the foundation for prosperity — that we’ve all enjoyed over the last 70 years.”

The biennial exercise is “a recurring answer to the divisive angst and tensions that put security and stability at risk in this region,” he said.  [Stars & Stripes]

This is what the Chinese Navy will be training with the US on during RIMPAC:

As it did in 2014, China sent the hospital ship Peace Ark, along with the guided missile destroy Xian, guided-missile frigate Hengshui, fleet oiler Gaoyouhui and the submarine logistics vessel Changxingdao.

China will participate in a new submarine rescue scenario, among other drills.

“For any country that has submarines, submarine rescue is very important,” Tyson told reporters. “I think it’s great we’re bringing these submarine rescue capabilities together so that we understand what is available in case we have an emergency with a submarine. There is a global system that will respond if any of us were to have an emergency with a submarine.”

You can read more at the link, but something of interests is that all surface vessels during the exercise are required to “Go Green” and use biofuels to power their ships.

Kim Jong-un is not only using the Chinese fishing boats as part of a asymmetric warfare strategy, but he is also making money at the expense of food for his own people:

– North Korea‘s latest policies might be behind the increased presence of Chinese boats in or near South Korean waters.

The cash-strapped Pyongyang regime, under heavy international sanctions in 2016, sold $30 million worth of fishing rights to more than a 1,000 Chinese vessels, The Korea Herald reported Friday.

The number of licenses issued has tripled from previous years, said Lee Wan-young, a South Korean lawmaker of the ruling Saenuri party, after a meeting with the National Intelligence Service.

“North Korean people, too, are unhappy because it has shrunk the catch and caused common complaints with their southern counterparts regarding worsening environmental damage such as from fuel oil sludge at sea,” Lee said.  [UPI]

You can read more at the link, but so much for China supposedly aggressively applying financial sanctions on North Korea.

Is China secretly punishing Kim Jong Un for his nuclear mischief? https://t.co/rdtpljd8bH by me @PostOpinions

— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) July 1, 2016

What gets me is that the ROK authorities did not jail this Chinese fisherman, but instead just booked him and let him go:

The captain of a Chinese fishing boat was arrested on Friday over allegedly operating near the inter-Korean maritime border and using an illegal drug, the South Korean Coast Guard said.

Coast guard officers found methamphetamine inside the boat that they seized in waters off Socheong Island in Incheon, west of Seoul, the previous day.

On Thursday, they confiscated 0.12 gram of the drug and an inhaler from the ship’s pilothouse after taking it to a coast guard station in Incheon. During an investigation into the captain, whose name was withheld, the 48-year-old man confessed that he had bought them shortly before the boat left the port of Donggang in China’s Liaoning Province around 5 p.m. on June 9, they said.

The captain, who purchased the drug and the inhaler from an acquaintance for 240 yuan and 20 yuan respectively, is suspected of inhaling the stimulant three times when the boat sailed near the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the inter-Korean de facto western maritime border, this month.

He has also administered the drug about 10 times in China since last year, they said. “I used the drug in secret at the pilothouse to beat fatigue,” he was quoted as saying. He tested positive in a urine test for the drug.

The Coast Guard plans to book the Chinese man without physical detention on charges of suspected violation of the illegal fishing control law concerning South Korea’s exclusive economic zone. In addition, it will book him on suspicion of violating the drug control law.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I maintain that the ROK should jail these guys and auction off their boats.  This would be needed to deterrent to stop the illegal fishing.

https://twitter.com/freekorea_us/status/746720560332283904

https://twitter.com/freekorea_us/status/743939139310096384

The LA Times has a good article on how the illegal Chinese fishing boats are not only destroying the local economy of South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island, but also destroying the entire ecosystem that supports the blue crab population:

The Chinese vessels have been driven to the South Korean fishing grounds by declining stocks in their home waters. The result has been a dramatic drop-off in blue crab catches, leading local fishermen to fear for their futures.  (……….)

Park said the fishermen are working longer hours and coming home with less. “Pretty soon, there will be nothing left,” said Park, 56, dressed in a salt-stained black tracksuit and chain-smoking cigarettes.  (………..)

Park worries that the Chinese boats are doing permanent damage to the ecosystem he relies on, saying they use a method called bull trawling, which is illegal in South Korea. Bull trawling entails dredging up everything in the ship’s path and damages the seabed. “They take everything,” Park said. “Even the babies.”  [LA Times]

You can read the rest of the article at the link, but it is clear the ROK authorities need to do more to stop these illegal Chinese fishing boats.  I am also wonder where are the Green Peace and Sea Shepherd activists at?  Illegal Chinese fishing boats destroying an entire ecosystem seems like something they would be protesting.