Category: China

It looks like the Chinese just received a major diplomatic win with the United Kingdom deciding to join their Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) which will be a competitor to other international financial institutions such as the World Bank:

It is time for Washington to take a step back and regroup. Its Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) strategy, ill-considered from the get-go, has now taken a major hit with the announcement this past week by the United Kingdom that it plans to join the Chinese-led AIIB. Washington’s concerns over the AIIB are well-established: the competition the AIIB poses to pre-existing development institutions such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank; concern over the potential for weak environmental standards and social safeguards within the AIIB; and the opportunity for China to use AIIB-financed infrastructure for greater leverage in the region. From all accounts, the Obama administration has expended serious energy trying to dissuade its allies from joining the bank at least until greater clarity is offered as to the decision-making structure of the institution. With the defection of the U.K., however, it appears likely that Washington’s carefully constructed coalition will gradually unravel—both Australia and South Korea are apparently reconsidering their earlier reluctance to join the bank and could well use the U.K.’s decision as political cover for deciding to join the bank.

At this point, therefore, Washington has three choices:

1)      Continue to press its allies not to join the AIIB until governance procedures for the bank are assured;

2)      Join the AIIB itself; or

3)      Drop the issue.

You can read what option the author thinks the US should go with at the link.

I guess just the fact that all three foreign ministers are meeting is progress, but I don’t expect anything to become of it:

For the first time in nearly three years, the foreign ministers of China, South Korea and Japan will meet Saturday for trilateral talks that could pave the way for a new era of cooperation – or prolong festering animosities rooted in the World War II era.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se will host his Chinese and Japanese counterparts, Wang Yi and Fumio Kishida, in Seoul for the discussions, which were last held in 2012.

The meeting is seen as a possible prelude to a three-way summit between leaders of the countries later this year. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met briefly on the sidelines of the APEC world leaders’ gathering in Beijing in November, but have never had a bilateral summit since they both came to power in 2012. Nor has Abe had a summit with South Korean President Park Geun-hye. Park and Xi, however, have met repeatedly, and warmly.

The 70th anniversary of the war’s end will be marked this summer in Asia with a variety of high-profile events, including a military parade in Beijing. Seven decades since Tokyo’s surrender, Japan, South Korea and China have strong economic ties, but deep strains remain, inhibiting collaboration on a range of matters including maritime issues and North Korea.

Frostiness between South Korea and Japan – both U.S. allies – and closer relations between South Korea and China have complicated Washington’s diplomacy in the region amid China’s continuing rise.  [LA TImes]

Here is why it is not in the interest of China or South Korea to resolve these issues with Japan:

At the same time, leaders in China and South Korea often see an advantage to stirring up nationalist, anti-Japan sentiments at home as a way of shoring up political support. Blatant anti-Japanese propaganda appears regularly in state-run media in China, for instance. And conflicting claims to uninhabited islands have also marred relations between Tokyo, Beijing and Seoul.

Whether the three nations now have the will to break their cycle of recriminations and defensiveness remains to be seen. World leaders from German Chancellor Angela Merkel to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon have been urging all three countries in recent weeks to forge a new path.

To be fair members of the Japanese government also use the historical issues to push their own domestic agendas as well.  Just visit the Yushukan Museum next to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo and see the absurd historical revisionism going on there that many on the Japanese far political right support.  If the Japanese government was serious about resolving these historical issues this is what I recommend they should do.

China-Japan-South Korea Relations Inching Forward http://t.co/lGbWGpsiAw

— The Diplomat (@Diplomat_APAC) March 16, 2015

It sounds like China is trying to develop an alternative to the western led International Monetary Fund (IMF) and is trying to rope South Korea into being part of it:

Seoul is caught up in a messy diplomatic tangle with the United States and China as it deliberates sensitive issues that can alienate one ally or the other.

Korea is especially conflicted over the issues of whether to deploy a Washington-led Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) missile defense system in Korea, which Beijing is opposed to, or to join the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which Washington doesn’t like.

Both issues are on front burners as high-ranking officials from Washington and Beijing will be in Seoul this week.

Liu Jianchao, Chinese assistant minister of foreign affairs, kicked off a four-day visit Sunday, according to the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, his first trip to Seoul since he took the post in 2013. Liu heads to Tokyo afterwards.

Daniel Russel, U.S. assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, visits on Monday for two days. Russel is expected to check on Ambassador Mark Lippert, who is recovering from a knife attack by a radical nationalist in Seoul earlier this month. His visit is expected to be an opportunity to emphasize the Korea-U.S. bilateral alliance.

Both envoys will meet with Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Lee Kyung-soo and Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yong.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link.

This is going to be a growing phenomenon as the Chinese middle class expands and can afford to travel outside the country.  Considering how many in China treat their own country just imagine how the herds of tourists would treat other countries?:

Japanese were traditionally the largest contingent, followed by Taiwanese and Korean visitors. But the majority of the new wave of Chinese tourists seem more interested — for now at least — in lounging on the beach.

“We are not seeing a growth rate to match the number of visitors,” said Singeo. “Tourists are up 34 percent so technically we should see economic benefits at the rate of 30 percent or more, but that’s not the case.”

On the streets of Koror, some accused Chinese people of being noisy and disrespectful towards the environment.

“They wreck corals and throw their rubbish in the sea,” chided Norman, a taxi driver.

In another recent example, a Chinese tour operator named “Yellow Skin Tour” caused outrage in Palau with leaflets including photos of grinning Chinese tourists holding up turtles they had removed from the water -– in one case by its flippers.

Residents have also accused Chinese tourists of being responsible for the deaths of some jellyfish at the natural wonder “Jellyfish Lake”.

Visitors are encouraged to marvel at the harmless creatures by floating on the surface, but some locals complain that many Chinese lack swimming skills and thrash around, disturbing the wildlife.

The Palau government is exploring ways to try to stem the tide of Chinese tourists to the western Pacific Ocean archipelago and this week said the number of charter flights from China would be halved next month.

President Tommy Remengesau said the move was not intended to discriminate against any nationality but was to prevent tourism from becoming too reliant on one market.  [AFP]

You can read more at the link.

Is the Chinese Communist Party doomed? http://t.co/j946WWBrOV pic.twitter.com/RIT3E3fovf

— Foreign Policy (@ForeignPolicy) March 14, 2015

It is ironic that China is complaining so much about a defensive weapon system such as THAAD being deployed to Korea, but yet is in the process of developing a 2nd aircraft carrier to threaten its neighbors with:

The leaks and so-called misstatements have included information that construction began in 2014 in Dalian port, where the Liaoning was refurbished. They also included information that the new ship will have a modern catapult for launching aircraft and generally will be more advanced than the Liaoning. In addition, construction is scheduled to be completed in 2020. Readers should consider all of the leaks to be calculated and deliberate.

A retired Admiral and former political commissar for the Navy; an active duty naval commissar and a Communist Party official from Liaoning Province have been prominent in the steady stream of information about the new, modern Chinese aircraft carrier. Each has contributed bits of new information about the new carrier.

The cover story of excited, but inadvertent leaks is part of a propaganda strategy that aims to keep regional neighbors informed, but not alarmed. The fact is that China can build and is building a US-style aircraft carrier and sea control ship. Some sources reported the goal is to build six,  [NightWatch]

You can read more at the link.

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Myanmar May Have Just Bombed Chinese Territory — Now What? http://t.co/wdhl5gAWuT

— The Diplomat (@Diplomat_APAC) March 11, 2015

For the people of South Korea who have to live with the yellow dust storms and the pollutants from China that it brings with it; anything that can lessen the pollution from China is a good thing:

China has rejected imports of some North Korean anthracite coal because the coal failed to meet domestic standards for mercury emissions, a local newspaper reported Wednesday, in what appeared to be China’s first rejection of North Korean minerals over environmental concerns.

The shipment was returned to North Korea on Feb. 27 from the Rizhao port of China’s northern coastal province of Shandong, the National Business Daily newspaper reported, citing an unnamed port official.

The report did not elaborate further, or include the volume of the rejected North Korean coal.

After three decades of rapid industrialization, China regularly sees hazardous air pollution with levels of particulate matter rising to nearly 40 times the limits set by the World Health Organization during the winter months.

In September, China announced strict regulations against the sale and import of coal with high toxic pollutants, including mercury and sulfur, to improve the country’s air and water quality.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Despite all the talk about the non-militarization of space over the years the facts are that space is becoming increasingly militarized:

China is developing space technologies aimed at blocking U.S. military communications and destroying its ability to win conflicts, according to a report commissioned by a congressional committee.

“China’s improving space capabilities have negative-sum consequences for U.S. military security,” the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation said in the report. Its progress requires “the U.S. to prepare to confront an adversary possessing space and counter-space technologies.”

The report, released Monday in Washington, comes as Congress debates President Barack Obama’s request for a Defense Department budget increase of 7.7 percent to $534.3 billion and ways to align defense strategy and spending. The top U.S. intelligence official and the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command both warned last week that China’s space program threatens U.S. military communications.

The program is part of President Xi Jinping’s “China Dream” strategy of strengthening national power and reshaping the Asia-Pacific political environment into one in which its interests are given greater attention.

“China’s goal is to become a space power on par with the United States and to foster a space industry that is the equal of those in the United States, Europe, and Russia,” according to the report, which was prepared for the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission.

Chinese military analysts consider that space-based information will become a deciding factor in future wars, that space will be a dominant battlefield, and that in order to achieve victory on Earth, one must first seize the initiative in space, the institute said.

“This will require China to achieve space supremacy, defined as the ability to freely use space and to deny the use of space to adversaries,” according to the report, titled “China Dream, Space Dream: China’s Progress in Space Technologies and Implications for the United States.”

The assessment that space is the dominant battlefield has led the People’s Liberation Army to conclude that war in space is inevitable, the institute said in the report led by Kevin Pollpeter, deputy director of the Study of Innovation and Technology in China at the IGCC.  [Bloomberg]

So how will China take out US space-based communications?  Well the 2007 Chinese satellite shoot down is an indication of what they can do.  The debris left in orbit after such a conflict would have the potential of making low Earth orbit likely unusable for quite some time.