It looks like Korea may see a surge in Chinese tourists:
A temporary visa waiver program for Chinese group tourists who visit Korea will begin later this month, officials said Sunday, as part of efforts to boost the nation’s tourism market.
Under the visa-free program, a group of Chinese tourists with more than three people can travel to Korea without visas for as many as 15 days from Sept. 29 to June next year, according to a joint statement by justice, culture and other ministries.
N. Korea tightens border security Fences are installed near Yalu River Bridge, which connects China’s Dandong and the North’s Sinuiju, on Sept. 1, 2025, as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reportedly departed for China to attend a military parade. (Yonhap)
The Communist Party of China DID NOT DEFEAT THE JAPANESE IN WORLD WAR 2. The Chinese Nationalists — with a huge amount of American support — defeated the Japanese. Beijing's Sept 3 parade pretends that it's their government that won World War 2. It's not. The history is clear.
How cute the leaders of China, Russia, and North Korea all got to cosplay that their countries defeated Imperial Japan during World War II:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stood shoulder to shoulder with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping at center stage at a military parade in Beijing on Wednesday, marking the first such meeting among leaders of Pyongyang, Moscow and Beijing in 66 years.
The spectacle of Kim standing with Putin and Xi at the viewing gallery of Tiananmen Square marks a major display of their trilateral solidarity in defiance of the West, led by the United States.
Wearing a black business suit and a gold-colored tie, Kim joined Xi and Putin on the center stage at the rostrum for top-level guests as the parade kicked off with elaborate ceremonies at Tiananmen Square — a historic moment showcasing solidarity among China, Russia and North Korea.
Putin was seated on Xi’s right and Kim on his left, with Xi occasionally turning toward Kim to talk, their bodies angled toward each other.
You can read more at the link, but Russia is really the only country of the three that can say it did anything to defeat Imperial Japan. They at least fought the Imperial Japanese during the last days of World War II in Manchuria and North Korea when they had already been largely defeated by the U.S. and its allies.
By the way here is what Trump had to say about the parade:
U.S. President Donald Trump described the parade as Kim, Putin and Xi conspiring against Washington, writing a message on his social media account addressed to Xi: “Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against the United States of America.”
Kim Jong-un has arrived in Beijing to celebrate the CCP’s fan fiction version of how they defeated the Imperial Japanese during World War II:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, the North’s state media said, as photos showed him accompanied by his daughter on a key trip marked by his planned attendance at a Chinese military parade.
Kim, who departed Pyongyang the previous day in a special armored train, arrived at Beijing Railway Station at 4 p.m., local time, and was greeted by senior Chinese officials, including Cai Qi, member of the Chinese Communist Party’s central committee, Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Beijing Mayor Yin Yong, the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, citing its foreign ministry.
The axis of authoritarianism is meeting in China this week to pretend that the CCP had anything to do with helping to win World War II:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is set to take an initial step onto the multilateral diplomatic stage in China this week, with his planned trip to attend a military parade in Beijing setting the stage for a possible three-way summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
It will be the first time for Kim, who assumed power in late 2011, to attend a multilateral diplomatic event. His grandfather and the North’s founder Kim Il-sung attended a military parade in Beijing in 1959.
The decision by Kim to attend China’s military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, alongside Putin and Xi, was announced days after both South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump expressed their eagerness to resume diplomacy with North Korea in their high-stakes summit in Washington.
As long as China remains threatening to its South China Sea neighbors, the U.S. should base anti-ship and aircraft missiles throughout the Philippines:
The United States is discussing the possible deployment of more missile launchers to the Philippines to strengthen deterrence against aggression in the disputed South China Sea and other Asian security hotspots, but no final decision has been reached by both sides, Manila’s ambassador to Washington said Thursday.
The U.S. military delivered a mid-range missile system called the Typhon, a land-based weapon that can fire the Standard Missile-6 and the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, to the northern Philippines as part of joint combat exercises in April last year. That was followed by the transport by the U.S. military of an anti-ship missile launcher in April this year to the northernmost Philippine province of Batanes, just a sea border away from Taiwan.
Beijing strongly protested the installation of the U.S. missile systems, saying they were aimed at containing China’s rise and warning that these would threaten regional stability. China has asked the Philippines to withdraw the missile launchers from its territory, but officials led by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had rejected the demand.
This was a pretty big screw up by whoever was captaining the ship:
Japan’s Ministry of Defense has denied a Japanese media report this week that Chinese naval vessels fired two warning shots at a Japanese warship that sailed into China’s territorial waters last year. Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer JS Suzutsuki on July 4, 2024, inadvertently sailed within 12 nautical miles of the coast of Zhejiang province, Kyodo News reported at the time.
The Japanese destroyer was monitoring a live-fire exercise by Chinese forces in Hangzhou Bay, according to the report. After repeatedly warning the destroyer to change course, Chinese vessels fired two warning shots — one before it entered territorial waters and another after it crossed into the area, Kyodo reported Sunday, citing unnamed diplomatic sources.
Here is an interesting article on how Chinese intelligence agencies are using organized crime groups in China to spy on U.S. military facilities in Palau:
Complicating that plan, however, is a Chinese-owned hotel overlooking Malakal Harbor that U.S. and Palauan officials worry could be used for surveillance.
Across Palau, Chinese businesses and developers have leased land near a half-dozen strategic locations where the United States is beefing up efforts to detect and deter China’s growing reach into the region, according to intelligence and security documents and interviews with 20 American, Palauan and Taiwanese officials.
A months-long Washington Post investigation found that Chinese businesses have leased land or built properties for tourism developments near the port, the airport, a U.S. coastal surveillance outpost and a U.S. “over the horizon” radar system. (Palauan law doesn’t allow foreigners to buy land, but they can lease it for up to 99 years.)
It’s a long read, but I recommend reading the rest at the link. If the Chinese are using organized crime groups to spy on Palau it makes me wonder where else are they doing this?
