Global Voices has an interesting article posted that shows a variety of reactions from Chinese Internet users in regards to North Korea’s recent nuclear test. It seems at least some people in China are beginning to realize what a danger North Korea is to not only the ROK, US and Japan, but China now as well:
China and North Korea border. Photo from VOA Chinese.
Instead of condemning the nuclear test, Beijing took a more moderate stance, saying it “firmly opposes” the test and urged North Korea to “remain committed to its denuclearisation commitment”.
On the other hand, Chinese netizens grew more and more impatient with the government’s tolerance of their “insane” neighbor. It wasn’t only polarizing US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump who said China is the one who should deal with North Korea. On Chinese Twitter-like Weibo, many voiced their criticism of the government’s diplomatic policy in a news thread discussing North Korea’s H-bomb test.
Below are a selection of popular comments that have received more than 1,000 likes: [Global Voices]
You can read the various reactions at the link.
Also of interest is that One Free Korea in a great opinion piece that I highly recommend everyone read included a link to a Yonhap article that shows that even the Chinese state controlled media is confirming increasing public frustration with North Korea:
In China’s strict-controlled online media, public resentment against North Korea’s fourth nuclear test is growing with some social media users criticizing their government for not taking a tougher response to the North’s test.
Since North Korea announced that it had successfully carried out a hydrogen bomb test last Wednesday, a newspaper published by the Chinese Communist Party has conducted five rounds of online opinion polls about the North’s test.
In one opinion poll of some 42,500 people by the state-run Global Times, 81 percent say the North’s nuclear test poses a threat to China’s security.
In another poll of 4,900 people by the same paper, 82 percent responded that they support new sanctions by the U.N. Security Council against North Korea. [Yonhap]
If he some how gets elected it will be interesting to see if Trump is able to back up his big talk because getting China to do something on North Korea is not as easy as he makes it sound:
Calling North Korea a “disgrace,” Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said Sunday that China should solve the problem as Pyongyang’s main benefactor or be forced to see its trade with the United States suffer.
It was the latest in a series of remarks that Trump has been making since the North’s nuclear test last week to underscore his point that China has “total control” over Pyongyang, and the U.S. should force Beijing to fix the problem of the North.
“I think North Korea is a disgrace,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I would get China, and I would say, ‘Get in there and straighten it out. You’d better straighten it out.’ And, if you don’t straighten it out, we’re going to have trouble because we have power over China. We have trade power over China.”
Trump also said that while Iran is expected to have nuclear weapons due to what he calls a “stupid agreement” that the U.S. and other world powers concluded with Tehran last year, North Korea already has “very dangerous weapons of some sort.”
In another FOX TV interview, Trump again said that China is the one that should fix the North Korea problem.
“People ask me a number of questions. They were asking me how do you solve North Korea? Well, China should be solving North Korea; they have total power,” Trump said. [Yonhap]
As I posted earlier this week, it is business as usual on the Sino-NK border which is something that Secretary of State John Kerry says has to stop. Despite this the Chinese government is claiming there is no “key” for them to use to stop North Korea’s nuclear program. If the border was shutdown this is a key that would greatly pressure the Kim regime to halt their nuclear program:
China said Friday that it holds no “key” to curbing North Korea’s nuclear ambition, while the United States is urging Beijing to put more pressure on Pyongyang after the North’s fourth nuclear test.
The remarks by Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying were seen as a rare public acknowledgment that China’s influence on its unruly ally North Korea is limited.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, during a telephone conservation on Thursday, “There cannot be business as usual” after North Korea claimed it successfully conducted a hydrogen bomb test.
Kerry said he reached the agreement with Wang, after making clear to his Chinese counterpart that the latest nuclear test has proven that Beijing’s approach to the North Korean nuclear issue “has not worked.”
The Wednesday nuclear test by North Korea is viewed as a diplomatic failure by Chinese President Xi Jinping in trying to rein in North Korea.
In response to such a view, Hua said, “I want to emphasize that the origin and frictions of the North Korean nuclear issue do not lie in China. The key of resolving the issue does not lie in China.”
However, Hua repeated that, “China urges the North Korean side to stick to reaffirming its commitment of denuclearization and stop taking actions that make the situation worse.” [Yonhap]
The Kim regime knows that Beijing will not do anything that would undermine the stability of their regime and thus why they continue with their provocation strategy:
Trucks rumbled across the Chinese-North Korean border Thursday in a sign that trade was continuing despite Beijing’s anger over the North’s avowed hydrogen bomb test, which could spark economic retaliation and further estrangement between the once-close communist allies.
There were no obvious signs of disruption in the northeastern city of Dandong that sits on the Yalu River directly across from North Korea’s Sinuiju. The twin cities are the conduit through which much of North Korea’s international trade passes.
China condemned Wednesday’s purported test, which sent tremors across parts of northeastern China near the North Korean border and alarmed residents.
“I think it is a threat and sabotage to China and to the world peace for such a country to own nuclear weapons,” Dandong resident Tian Zhibin said in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday.
Analysts say Beijing will likely join other members of the U.N. Security Council in imposing tougher economic sanctions on its communist ally.
Beijing could also introduce unilateral measures such as tighter inspections of the trucks that cross the Yalu carrying mostly consumer goods bound for the North. China-North Korean economic projects could be suspended and Chinese companies and banks discouraged from doing business with North Korea. [Associated Press]
Like I have mentioned before, the Chinese Communist Party has no incentive to want to resolve the comfort women or any other historical issues with Japan because it makes for great domestic propaganda for them when needed. So this poll from the Communist Party mouthpiece should probably be looked at skeptically:
Most Chinese people believe that Beijing should not accept conditions set by South Korea and Japan in possibly resolving the long-running grievance of Chinese victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery, a survey by a state-run Chinese media showed Thursday.
The online survey, conducted by the Global Times, published by the People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, found that 95 percent of 10,686 respondents say the deal between South Korea and Japan on wartime sex slaves “can’t” apply to China.
The remaining 5 percent say the deal “can” apply to possible talks between Japan and China in resolving the issue of Chinese victims who were forcibly mobilized at front-line Japanese military brothels during World War II.
Under the deal with South Korea announced on Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe apologized to the Korean victims and Tokyo agreed to provide 1 billion yen ($8.3 million) to a fund for the victims. [Korea Times]
I have always said that ISIS attracts the losers from the Muslim world; the ones who don’t have a real job or girlfriend and look to blame others for their situation in life. Well it appears now the opposite phenomenon is happening. Guys with no real job or girlfriend are now looking to make a name for themselves by fighting ISIS:
A 25-year-old man from China’s Sichuan Province has traveled to Syria to fight against ISIS after the relationship with his girlfriend stranded. He is the first Chinese citizen to join the fight against ISIS.
In September of this year, the Chinese man flew from Bangkok to Istanbul, and then traveled on to Syria. According to China Business News, he never told his family where he was going. He stated that he had no job in China, that his girlfriend had just ended their relationship, and that he wanted to do “something meaningful”.
The young man, who calls himself ‘Pan’, arrived in the border town of Ayn al-Arab in October, and joined the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) from there as the first-ever Chinese citizen to fight against IS, China’s 21 News reported.
According to BBC China, who interviewed him, Pan does not speak English nor Arabic, and is only able to communicate with fellow fighters using an electronic dictionary. After breaking up with his girlfriend and having no official occupation in China, he felt he had to “something meaningful”, which, Pan stated, was to pick up arms and join the war. [What’s On Weibo]
Considering the deadly attacks these Chinese fishing boats have launched against the ROK Coast Guard I think the Chinese government has no legitimate argument to complain about warning shots especially when the Coast Guard thought they were North Korean ships. If the Chinese government wants to ensure the safety of these fishing boats the best way to do that is to stay out of South Korean waters and not illegally fish:
Picture of illegal Chinese fishing boats teaming up to do battle with the ROK Coast Guard back in 2011.
China said on Wednesday it had asked South Korea to ensure the safety of Chinese ships after South Korea’s navy fired warning shots at a Chinese vessel which crossed into waters disputed by North and South Korea.
The South Korean navy told Yonhap news agency it had fired 10 warning shots at a Chinese boat which it said crossed the Northern Limit Line – a disputed inter-Korean maritime border on the west coast.
The ship was initially thought to be North Korean, but was later identified as Chinese, according to Yonhap.
“We are concerned about the relevant situation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing. [Reuters via reader tip]
Picture of illegal Chinese fishing boats teaming up to do battle with the ROK Coast Guard 