Category: China

It will be interesting to see what terms the Japanese government agrees to, but I would love to see South Korea makes the same demands of the Chinese government to apologize for their aggression during the Korean War and continued division of the peninsula:

Beijing has reportedly demanded the government and ruling party of Japan include the words “colonialism,” “aggression” and apology” in the so-called “Abe statement,” set to be released next month.

The Japanese daily Sankei Shimbun reported on Tuesday that Chinese foreign ministry officials are trying to persuade Japanese officials regarding Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s planned statement marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.

The newspaper said that Chinese officials are also demanding Tokyo inherit the apologetic Murayama statement that included the words “colonial rule,” “aggression,” “apology” and “remorse.”  [KBS World Radio]

I always figured the Chinese would just reduce their oil exports to North Korea to make them feel a little pain and show their displeasure with North Korea.  I never believed they would cut off the exports entirely because of the effect it would have on regime stability:

WASHINGTON, July 10 (Yonhap) — North Korea’s sole-operating oil refinery has been up and running despite a series of media reports that China halted crude exports to the impoverished communist neighbor amid strained relations last year, a U.S. expert said Friday.

Joseph S. Bermudez Jr., chief analytics officer of AllSource Analysis, said in a report carried by the website 38 North of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies that the North’s Ponghwa Chemical Factory would not have been running if Beijing had halted crude exports.

Bermudez cited satellite imagery showing the refinery operational.

“Numerous reports during 2014-2015 have stated that China, North Korea’s largest crude oil supplier, did not sell it crude oil during 2014, a development that would force North Korea’s single operating oil refinery into caretaker status,” Bermudez said in the report.

“Satellite imagery from 2014 and 2015, however, reveals that the facility has remained operational, though perhaps at somewhat lower levels than in the immediately preceding years, calling into question media reports of an oil cutoff from China,” he said.

Imagery indicates activity at the factory’s rail loading and unloading facility, and construction activity within the factory, such as the building and maintenance of storage tanks and additions to several buildings, provides another indication that the facility remained operational, the expert said.  [Yonhap]

You can read the rest at the link.

I think it depends on what one defines economic development as meaning.  If making enough money to keep the ruling elites in power is the goal of the Kim regime they are doing a good job of that along with developing their nuclear weapons:

The United States and China will use next week’s high-level strategic talks to discuss ways to get North Korea out of the “fantasy” that it can revive its broken economy without having to give up its nuclear program, a senior U.S. diplomat said Thursday.

Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel made the remark during a Foreign Press Center briefing previewing the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) to be held in Washington from Monday through Wednesday, saying Washington and Beijing share the same goal of ending Pyongyang’s nuclear program.

“North Korea harbors the fantasy that it can have its cake and eat it too,” Russel said. “North Korea is hoping to be able to rescue itself from the economic failure of its system through external aid while simultaneously and brazenly carrying forward on its nuclear and missile program. That’s just not going to happen.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but as I have long said there is right now no good reason why the North Koreans should stop their pursuit of nuclear weapons.  Promises of “economic development” only matter if the Kim regime cared about the welfare of all their citizens.  Right now they are doing enough to keep the elites in power by getting enough aid from China and managing their global illicit operations.

China’s Maritime Disputes: Trouble to the South, but the East Stays Quiet http://t.co/4A7YwgcXDC pic.twitter.com/LJIShgF3Yb

— The Diplomat (@Diplomat_APAC) June 13, 2015

This could just be China cracking down on North Korean soldiers coming across the border and murdering Chinese citizens:

Chinese border guards shot and killed one person who was allegedly trying to illegally cross from North Korea on Thursday, authorities said.

The incident took place shortly before 4:00 p.m. (0800 GMT) after the suspect attempted to evade arrest by border guards, according to a brief statement from the Helong city government in Jilin province. It said the shooting is under investigation.

China’s 1,416-kilometer (880-mile) border with North Korea is a key crossing point for refugees from the impoverished hard-line communist state.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

It has been well known that China has paid online commenters that many in China call the “50-Cent Army” or “50-Cent Party”.  One of the 50-Cent Army used to regularly post here on ROK Drop.  Now due to leaked emails the size of China’s 50-Cent Army is now known; they have an incredible 89 million members:

On May 17, a hacker nicknamed XiaoLan leaked a package of emails revealing details of the recruitment of college students by the Shanghai League of Communist Youth, one of the most significant Chinese Communist Party organizations under the single party regime. The students serve as voluntary online commentators that spread positive energy and “purify” the internet.

The existence of the commentators is not a state secret: the latest round of massive recruitment was revealed in a document issued by the China Communist Youth League in February 2015. The League set out to recruit no less than 20 percent of its members to serve as “civilization volunteers” by spreading positive energy and acting as models for “good netizens”.

The League had more than 89 million members at the end of 2013, which means it must recruit around 18 million “civilization volunteers” to meet its target. The characters depicted in the sketch at the top of this post are two figurative examples of “civilization volunteers” posted by the Youth League in April on China’s Twitter-like Weibo.

Pro-government Internet commentators are a constant target for criticism by China’s netizens, who give them the sarcastic nickname of “wumaodang” or “50 Cent Party” in English, since it is said that they receive a typical payment of half a Chinese Yuan per post, equivalent to 8 cents in U.S. dollar terms.

Though the nature of their work is similar, the “civilization volunteers” are political loyalists who do not receive payment at all. The hacker’s revelation shows that the League mobilized its members for Internet-civilizing via its college sub-branches.  [Global Voices]

You can read the rest at the link, but remember that these college students they recruit are also mobilized to do the government’s bidding in countries overseas.  Many ROK Heads may remember the Olympic Torch violence in Seoul perpetrated by Chinese college students mobilized by the Chinese embassy in 2008.

The new PACOM commander is not mincing words about what he thinks of the Chinese land and maritime grabs in the South China Sea:

The newly promoted head of U.S. Pacific Command on Wednesday described China’s claims to a vast swathe of islands in the South China Sea as “preposterous.”

China’s disputed island claims was one of several challenges Adm. Harry B. Harris, Jr., said he would face as the new head of PACOM during his change-of-command ceremony, whose backdrop was the submerged USS Arizona Memorial.

At the same ceremony, Adm. Scott H. Swift assumed command of U.S. Pacific Fleet, which Harris had commanded since October 2013.

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter told the audience that the U.S. opposes any further work by China to militarize disputed islands in the South China Sea.

Harris projected a scrappy stance toward China in his remarks.

“So ladies and gentlemen, our president is crystal clear,” Harris said. “The U.S. will rebalance to the Pacific. Our joint forces will work closely with our allies and friends in the Indo-Asia Pacific region.”

And the greatest challenges those forces face, he said, are from North Korea, “with its quest for nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them intercontinentally,” China’s “preposterous claims to and land reclamation activities in the South China Sea,” and a “resurgent Russia” in the Pacific.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

It may be noteworthy that the Chinese actually bring up the instability on the peninsula being caused by North Korea, but are they willing to take any measures to do something about it?:

China has expressed concerns over instability on the Korean Peninsula, in a rare public departure from its staunch loyalty to North Korea.

In a white paper released Tuesday, the Chinese Defense Ministry said, “The Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia are shrouded in instability and uncertainty.”

These have “a negative impact on the security and stability along China’s periphery,” it added.

This suggests that China is determined to remain active in trying to curb North Korea’s nuclear arms development.

The paper also cites security threats like the U.S.’ “pivot to Asia” or reorientation of defense efforts to deter China, Japanese rearmament, and maritime disputes in the South China Sea.  [Chosun Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

China tops US as biggest oil importer—and inherits loads of Mideast headaches. @KFJ_FP reports http://t.co/lAKKgI9mbi pic.twitter.com/ORY1AYzDMX

— Foreign Policy (@ForeignPolicy) May 11, 2015

China's Air Superiority Fighters Are Getting Stealthier http://t.co/jsfxNeajNB pic.twitter.com/sUs98EUakd

— The Diplomat (@Diplomat_APAC) May 6, 2015