Category: China

The Manseok pier in South Korea’s western port city of Incheon is jam-packed with Chinese fishing boats on June 14, 2016. All the ships have been seized by the South Korean Coast Guard while illegally catching fish in the country’s territorial waters near the inter-Korean sea border in the West Sea. Illegal fishing by Chinese fishermen is a years-long troublesome issue in the country as it has severely damaged the livelihood of South Korean fishermen. (Yonhap)

ROK Drop favorite Andrei Lankov has an opinion piece in the Korea Times that explains how China’s supposed harsh line with North Korea was merely a short term fluctuation and things are back to normal between the two countries:

For a brief while, South Korean diplomats were in a rather celebratory mood: it looked like China, for a change, had joined the ROK and the U.S. in their efforts to subject North Korea to the toughest sanctions ever. Indeed, in early March the Chinese representative in the U.N. Security Council voted for Resolution 2270 which introduced such measures, and for a while the united front looked like a reality.

Frankly, for yours truly, it was a surprise: the harsh position Beijing had seemingly committed itself to was unprecedented, and China’s switch happened quite suddenly. However, now it seems that this change was merely a short-term fluctuation.

There are many signs of a warming of relations between China and North Korea. In early June, Ri Su-yong, the former North Korean foreign minister who currently is the Korean Workers’ Party vice-chairman responsible for foreign relations, visited Beijing. It is the first time since 2013 that a North Korean official of such high rank has appeared in the Chinese capital. Among other things, Ri was granted an audience with President Xi Jinping. It lasted merely 20 minutes and therefore was, first and foremost, a formality, but it still had much symbolic meaning. It is equally important that the Chinese media devoted much space to describing the visit.

Simultaneously, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman expressed dissatisfaction with the new U.S. policy initiative ― unilateral sanctions, targeting banks that deal with North Korea. On the other hand, the U.S. authorities subpoenaed Huawei, a massive Chinese telecommunication company, for its alleged deals with North Korea. There is also a growing body of evidence that China is not being as strict with sanctions’ enforcement as many had hoped for.

There is nothing surprising about all this. Like it or not, when it comes to the Korean Peninsula, Chinese interests are seriously different from those of the United States.  [Korea Times]

You can read the rest at the link, but like I have always said China is never going to take a position that would risk the stability of the Kim regime.  As bad as the regime is, to the Chinese government it is better than the alternative of regime collapse and the unification of the peninsula under South Korean rule backed with US troops.

This incident involving a Chinese fishing boat shows the very dangerous situation that could have materialized along the inter-Korean Northern Limit Line (NLL) because the Chinese government absolutely refuses to control their fishermen:

A Chinese vessel illegally fishing off Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea was seized by Incheon Coast Guard – but not before trying to flee with Korean officers still on board.

A 50-ton Chinese boat illegally caught some 45 kilograms (99 pounds) of crab and small fish in waters 8.6 kilometers (5.3 miles) to the south of the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border between the two Koreas, at around 4:40 p.m. Saturday afternoon, according to the Incheon Coast Guard Sunday. This was in violation of Korea’s exclusive economic zone.

During the raid, 14 Korean Coast Guard officers boarded the Chinese fishing vessel to seize it.

But Chinese sailors blockaded the wheelhouse and tried to take off with the Coast Guard officers still on board. They managed to sail around 1 kilometer to the north before control was seized.

This led to the arrest of all seven Chinese sailors on board, who were transported to Incheon.

Had the South Korean Coast Guard crossed over into North Korean waters, it could have given Pyongyang a pretext for some form of retaliation.   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but I would not be surprised if the Chinese government puts out some statement trying to put blame on the Korean Coast Guard for the incident.  I have always believed that these fishermen need to be jailed and their boats auctioned off as a deterrent to this activity.  These Chinese fishermen have not only injured and murdered Korean Coast Guard personnel in the past, but now they are even threatening to start a war with North Korea.

Something needs to be done and maybe the Argentine approach of just sinking them is the way to go.

https://twitter.com/WhoAteTheSquid/status/740730179220328448

#THAAD and all US missiles in #ROK directed at #DPRK threat, "it's not about #China," says SecDef Carter. #VOAalert pic.twitter.com/xPQO5f6KqB

— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) June 4, 2016

It will be interesting to see how this plays out because it appears that the Chinese are all in, in regards to their South China Sea claims, is the US and its regional allies all in as well to deter them?

As a rising power, China is roughly charting the same course the Americans and Soviets did 50 years ago. China has land-based missiles, bombers, and missile submarines. And China is establishing its own bastion — in the South China Sea. This sea grab is a logical response to China’s strategic dilemma.

China’s coming submarine deployment is allegedly in response to the deployment of the American THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea. While it is true that the U.S. is deploying THAAD on the Korean peninsula, the system can only be used against missiles targeting South Korea — coming from China’s ally, North Korea. China’s explanation is designed to make Beijing look like the victim. But China, which has its main submarine missile base adjacent to the South China Sea, has been preparing to sail its missile submarines there for years.

China’s aggression in the South China Sea is not likely merely for aggression’s sake, or the result of a rising power feeling its oats. China is acting out of strategic necessity, something even more dangerous because it feels it is doing something because it must, not simply because it can. The ruling Chinese Communist Party has made the calculation that the strategic benefits — having a safe location for its nuclear missile submarines — outweighs the negative attention the country is receiving worldwide.

What does that mean? It means that Beijing is not going to back down. Chinese nuclear weapons, which are the ultimate guarantor of Communist Party rule, are involved, and anything crucial to the survival of the regime is non-negotiable. Barring a new nuclear strategy — perhaps one that rules out submarines and relies on land-based missiles hidden in tunnels — controlling the sea is a must. Beijing has access to other stretches of the Pacific, but they can be easily accessed by traditional rivals including Taiwan and Japan. The South China Sea, for example, is adjacent to a number of relatively poor, weak states.  [The Week]

You can read the rest at the link.

Via a reader tip comes what is being claimed as the most racist TV commercial ever that has been airing recently in China.

The Chinese television commercial shows a black man apparently doing painting work inside a home covered in paint.  He begins to whistle at the Chinese woman in the house who is flirting wth him.  The Chinese woman puts a laundry detergent pack in his mouth before grabbing the black man and throwing him into the washing machine.  Afterwards she opens the washing machine and instead of a black man coming out a clean handsome Chinese man comes out.  You can watch the video below:

This doesn’t surprise me, but the laundry detergent company said they intentionally made this advertisement to be provocative:

Xu Chunyan, an agent for Qiaobi based in the Suzhou, China, told the Times that the ad was meant to be provocative.

“We did this for some sensational effect,” she told the newspaper. “If we just show laundry like all the other advertisements, ours will not stand out.”  [Miami Herald]

For those not familiar with China racism is not a big issue with them and this commercial is definitely racist.  However, in the age of the Internet commercials like this can no longer just remain with a domestic audience.  With that said what affect will the blowback on the Internet really have any affect on the company if they are strictly targeting the Chinese audience?  Since their goal was to stand out to their domestic audience, the controversy on the Internet is probably only going to help their sales if anything because of the increased attention.  Plus I just don’t expect a big movement with China to develop as a backlash against this company that would impact their sales any way.

It is going to be really interesting to see what the Chinese reaction is going to be if in fact the UNCLOS ruling in regards to territorial sovereignty in the South China Sea favors the Philippines:

The simmering dispute in the contested South China Sea is about to turn to a boil.

With an international arbitration court ruling on the legality of China’s “nine-dash line” claim to much of the South China Sea set to be handed down in the coming days or weeks, experts say the situation is likely to get a lot more complicated in the months and possibly years ahead.

The case, brought before the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) at The Hague by the Philippines, is widely expected to end in a ruling favoring Manila, which says that Beijing’s claims violate United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) agreements about territorial seas and exclusive economic zones (EEZ).

While both China and the Philippines are signatories to the treaty, Beijing has refused to participate in the process and vowed to ignore its ruling.

“The PCA is likely to determine that none of the land features at issue are entitled to an EEZ or continental shelf, and that some are not entitled even to a territorial sea,” James Kraska, research director at the Stockton Center for the Study of International Law at the U.S. Naval War College, wrote in late April in a paper posted to the Maritime Awareness Project website.

“The decision will not make China walk back its claims or undo its island building, but it will challenge the country’s notion that the law is the instrument of the strong to control the weak,” Kraska wrote. “Ineffective as they are, international law and the moral authority of a liberal world order pose a central obstacle to Chinese ambitions.”

Another key result of the ruling could see China’s hand forced on the nine-dash line.

Analysts say a large part of China’s strategy in the disputed waters rests on the ambiguity surrounding its claims. Beijing has never clarified exactly what the nine-dash line claim entails, apparently in hopes of maximizing its gains. It has also used its man-made islands in the South China Sea to bolster claims to EEZs of 200 nautical miles (370 km) and territorial seas of 12 nautical miles (22 km).

“The nine-dash line is really what’s at the heart of this case,” said Harry Krejsa, a Research Associate at the Center for a New American Security.

“The court wants to bring as much clarity as possible to the South China Sea disputes while also being strategic about its ability to strengthen international norms over the long run,” Krejsa said.

But a decision in favor of Manila, one nixing the nine-dash line, will undoubtably prompt a furious reaction from Beijing.

“The whole situation is probably going to get worse before it gets better, but strategically, the case for international law and norms are going to get stronger,” Krejsa said.  [Japan Times]

You can read more at the link, but if for example the ruling declares that the Scarborough Shoal is Philippine territory and the Chinese refuse to vacate it what should be the US and United Nations reaction to this?  Economic sanctions?  Is the US government willing to absorb the retaliatory economic impact that would come from China in response to such sanctions?

That is what some experts in China believe when compared to his competitor Hillary Clinton:

China features prominently in the rhetoric of presumed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who accuses the country of stealing American jobs and cheating at global trade. In China though, he’s only just emerging as a public figure, despite notoriety elsewhere for his voluble utterances, high-profile businesses and reality TV shows.

Although the government has denounced Trump’s threats of economic retaliation, many Chinese observers see a silver lining in his focus on economic issues instead of human rights and political freedoms. That could make him an attractive alternative to his likely rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Trump “could in fact be the best president for China,” Hong Kong Phoenix Television political commentator Wu Jun said during a recent on-air discussion.

“That’s because the Republican Party is more practical and Trump is a businessman who puts his commercial interests above everything else,” Wu said. Clinton, on the other hand, “might be the least friendly president toward China.”  [Associated Press]

You can read more at the link, but considering all of Clinton links to Chinese money it seems like she would be the preferred Chinese government candidate despite her human rights rhetoric.

This just proves what I have always said, that action speak louder than words when it comes to Chinese government claims they are complying with sanctions on North Korea:

While the Chinese government claims in official trade figures that it no longer exports oil to North Korea, a JoongAng Ilbo reporter visited a pipeline facility located in the outskirts of the border city of Dandong and witnessed crude oil being loaded into the pipeline for transport across the border.

Located on the China-North Korea border along the Yalu River, this facility is where crude oil goes through a last inspection before being transported across the river.

When the reporter visited the pipeline facility, crude oil was being loaded into the pipeline from oil tankers. The crude oil, which comes from the Daqing Oil Field – the biggest oil field in China located in Heilongjiang Province – was transported there by train and would be piped to a storage facility in Baekma, North Pyongan Province, from which it will be distributed among state agencies, military bases and transport-related factories in the energy-hungry country.   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but I have never believed that the Chinese government would fully comply with sanctions because even though the Kim regime is a foreign policy headache for them, a collapsed North Korean state would be even worse.