Category: China

Will China Join the Fight Against Islamic State? http://t.co/PveJNKrXWq

— The Diplomat (@Diplomat_APAC) September 15, 2014

#China’s FM reminds its citizens not to visit the Philippines due to possible gang attacks targeting Chinese.

— CCTVNEWS (@cctvnews) September 12, 2014

The CCP Didn’t Fight Imperial Japan; the KMT Did http://t.co/0NR6wqhcZT

— The Diplomat (@Diplomat_APAC) September 5, 2014

The Chinese have been complaining about the deployment of THAAD to Korea and it looks like the Korean government is going to try and alleviate their concerns:

The government is moving to ease China’s concerns about the possible deployment of U.S. missile interceptors on Korean soil.

National Security Office (NSC) chief Kim Kwan-jin is expected to undertake this hard mission on a visit to Beijing to meet with State Councilor Yang Jiechi in October.

Government officials have recently dropped hints that they would not object to the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) plan to bring in a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.

The advanced missile-defense system that has a range of up to lometers is regarded as an indispensable element of the U.S. missile defense system.

“The NSC chief will try and acquire China’s understanding on THAAD,” a government official said. The resumption of six-party talks aimed at stopping North Korea’s nuclear programs would also be on the agenda, he said.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

Implications of the US-China Split at the ARF http://t.co/q67dHsxiAD

— The Diplomat (@Diplomat_APAC) September 5, 2014

Breaking Through China’s Great Firewall http://t.co/SNqN3smIL6

— The Diplomat (@Diplomat_APAC) July 30, 2014

Last month ROK Drop readers may remember that the Lowy Institute was offering to have reader provided questions answered by Chinese Professor Zhu Feng.  I offered a number of questions and two of them were presented to Mr. Feng to answer.  Here is the answer Professor Feng gave in regards to the repatriation of North Korean refugees:

What does Professor Zhu Feng think of the forced repatriation of refugees back to North Korea where they are either imprisoned or executed?

I think it’s a controversial issue, but the problem is that if China refuses to repatriate that would signal that Beijing wants to bring down the North Korean regime. So I know such repatriation is cold blooded, and it’s a big embarrassment for China’s policy on North Korea. I have to say, China’s policy implementation in this regard always keeps one eye open the other eye closed. Officially, we will repatriate, but in practice we keep the net quite loose.  [The Interpreter]

You can read more at the link such as what Mr. Zhu thinks of the “Glans Plan” as well as current Chinese policies towards North Korea.  By the way thank you to the Lowy Institute for hosting this as well as to Professor Zhu Feng for agreeing to answer questions from readers.  I recommend ROK-Heads check out the Lowy Institute’s website The Interpreter which provides some good reads for those interested in Asia-Pacific issues.

Here is an update on the Chinese fishing boats that continue to violate South Korean waters that is getting worse every year:

Some 294 Chinese fishing boats and 2,905 Chinese fishermen have been caught so far this year illegally fishing in Korean territorial waters.

The number of Chinese trawlers caught illegally fishing in Korea’s Exclusive Economic Zone rose from 79 in 2007 to 91 last year, while the number of Chinese boats that trespassed into Korean territorial waters almost doubled from 27 to 53 over the same period.

Chinese fishermen are becoming increasingly brazen in their methods, and the scale of their activities is expanding. In the past, Chinese trawlers would only fish on foggy days or at night and slink away at daybreak. But these days they group together with ropes to create small armadas and resist arrest by using violence, or gang up against police wielding makeshift weapons.   [Chosun Ilbo]

ROK-Heads may remember the violent incidents these Chinese fishermen have caused when the Korean Coast Guard tries to take them into custody to include murdering one Coast Guard officer. The violence has continued as recently 5 more Coast Guard personnel were injured by the Chinese fishermen:

Five Korea Coast Guard (KCG) officers sustained injuries while rounding up Chinese fishing boats illegally operating in South Korean waters Saturday, according to the KCG Sunday.

This is the latest in a series of recent incidents in which officers enforcing the law were injured by violent Chinese fishermen. There have been growing calls for the Korean government to take a tougher stance against these trawlers unlawfully fishing in the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

According to the Jeju Coast Guard, a 1,500-ton patrol vessel seized a Chinese boat illegally fishing in the waters 12 kilometers northwest of the resort island at 4:25 a.m. Saturday. While towing the trawler to Jeju, about 25 Chinese boats illegally operating in nearby waters approached the ship and demanded the release of the captured trawler.

Soon after the patrol vessel called for reinforcements, 12 more Coast Guard vessels and two helicopters arrived at the scene and began rounding up the Chinese trawlers. Two more Chinese boats were captured but in the process, five officers were wounded by sailors resisting arrest with sharp objects. It is unknown how many Chinese fishermen were taken into custody.  [Korea Times]

You can read the rest at the link but these Chinese fishermen are even being caught in the East Sea now and are active in sabotaging the nets and intimidating South Korean fishermen.  Well now the Coast Guard has launched a new campaign to crackdown on the illegal fishing boats:

Stick-wielding Chinese fishermen illegally working in South Korean waters tried to evade arrest – by using rope to band their boats together.

The dramatic scenes unfurled on the Yellow Sea, off the South Korean coast near the south western city of Buan, during a three-day crackdown on illegal trawling in the area.

South Korea’s coastguard mobilised 12 ships, four helicopters and an elite team of armed soldiers to raid 10 boats.  [Daily Mail]

When these Chinese fishermen are detained they are let go after paying a $27,000 fine.  I still think they should confiscate their boats and send the fishermen back to China.  They won’t be doing any illegal fishing any more if they don’t have a boat to fish with. 

Here is a rare opportunity for those interested to ask questions to a noted North Korean expert Professor Zhu Feng from the University of Peking:

In the next part of our interview series, we’ll be speaking on 15 October to Zhu Feng, an internationally renowned expert on North Korea and nuclear disarmament. As before, we’ll be asking you to send your questions to blogeditor@lowyinstitute.org .

Zhu is the deputy director of Peking University’s Center for International and Strategic Studies and one of China’s leading scholars of international relations. He is a frequent guest on Chinese television and enjoys high-level policy access as an adviser to China’s leaders.

North Korea is a major diplomatic headache for Chinese leaders, and China is central to understanding the behavior of the reclusive state. As tensions have risen again in the Korean Peninsula over the sinking of a South Korean ship and an exchange of fire between the two countries, all eyes have been on China – as the source of 60% of the North’s foreign trade and the country’s only major ally, China is the only country that appears to have much influence.

However, China has consistently refused to censure North Korea’s leaders, keeping the country’s food and oil lifelines open despite hopes that it will use them to discipline the smaller nation.  [The Interpreter]

You can read more at the link but this question and answer series is being hosted by the Australian think tank the Lowy Institute.  If anyone has any questions they want asked to Professor Zhu Feng please e-mail them to blogeditor@lowyinstitute.org.

Anyway here are a few questions I can think of off the top of my head:

• Does China have the creditability to criticize the ROK Naval base on Cheju Island when they are developing their own aircraft carrier?
• What is the legal basis for the Chinese government to claim the South China Sea as Chinese territory?
• What does he think of the US military’s development of ballistic missile defenses and its BMD cooperation with Japan?
• What would be China’s response if South Korea was to join the US BMD efforts?
• Does Professor Feng believe space should be militarized?  If not then why did China shoot down a satellite in 2007 that has led to massive space junk problems for the international community?
• What does Professor Feng think of the forced repatriation of refugees back to North Korea where they are either imprisoned or executed?
• Is it true that the Chinese government is continuing its Northeast Project in order to co-opt Korean history in case North Korea was to collapse and be absorbed into China like Tibet and East Turkestan?
• If North Korea was to collapse does Professor Feng think that the Chinese should occupy North Korea or should it be left to the South Koreans to handle?
• What would be China’s response if the US and South Korea in response to a North Korean attack were to launch their own offensive into North Korea?
•  Would China support a united Korean peninsula under democratic rule?
• Why doesn’t the Chinese government stop the out of control Chinese fish boats that routinely violate South Korean waters and even murdered a South Korean Coast Guard officer?
• China often claims it doesn’t interfere with country’s internal affairs.  With that in mind does he think it is appropriate for the Chinese embassy in South Korea to organize violent protests against Koreans?
• China is often accused of launching cyber attacks.  What would the Chinese response be if the US was to launch a cyber attack against China in response?

I could go on and on, but I will let others discuss in the comments section what other questions should be asked of Professor Zhu Feng?

By the way thank you to the Lowy Institute for hosting this as well as to Professor Zhu Feng for agreeing to answer questions from readers.

Courtesy of OFK, comes this great interview of a modern day Korean sex slave in China.  Here is a sample of the interview:

For a while, all seemed well: she earned her keep, and a little pocket money, by working on the family farm, obtained a false identity and even began a romance with the farmers’ son.

Then, four years ago, she was caught by the Chinese police, searching farm to farm in a crackdown on illegal immigrants. “They checked my documents, and they were fake,” said Miss Ban.

“They said they would arrest me and give me back to the North Korean authorities. We all know what that means.”

The policemen forced her to have sex with each of them in turn, and then demanded she hand them most of her savings in return for keeping quiet.

The only alternative then was to go on the run again. “I knew they would not leave me alone,” she said. “These people are like leeches. They would suck you dry, and when you are of no further use to them, give you away.”

That was when a North Korean friend offered her a job at the massage parlour, where she is “protected” because the owner bribes the police.

She is unusual in having gone there of her own accord: many of her colleagues, she says, have been “sold” to the parlour in order to pay their debts to cross-border people-trafficking gangs. The slightest word of complaint, and the police will be tipped off about their illegal status.

This is what Ms. Ban had to say about returning to North Korea:

People like Miss Ban, however, have extra reason to feel a shudder when they glance across the river. Should she be caught by the Chinese authorities and deported, she would face jail, labour camp and possibly even execution, all for the crime of abandoning the “paradise on earth” created by Kim Jong-il, North Korea’s tyrant leader.

She vows, however, that this will never happen. “The only way I’m going back to Korea is in a coffin,” she said, a look of defiance flashing across her face. “F*** you, comrade Kim Jong-il.”

Make sure you read the whole thing because her story is tragic and representative of the tens of thousands of North Korean refugees hiding in China that South Korea and the rest of the world prefer to pretend do not exist.  This is why I have a hard time taking seriously the demagogues that condemn Japan for sexual slavery of women during World War II, but they do nothing to stop the trafficking of sex slaves in China today.