Tag: China

That is what the below report in the Hankyoreh is speculating could happen if North Korea launches a rocket in October:

The main variable in future diplomatic trends is the question of whether North Korea will launch a long-range rocket. There has been discussion of the possibility of North Korea testing a long-range rocket on the pretext of putting a satellite into orbit on Oct. 10, the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the Korean Workers’ Party.

Indeed, a video was posted on Uriminzokkiri, a website that North Korea uses to send propaganda to South Korea, in which the anchor said, “South Korea’s opposition parties, press, and experts urged the government not to cast a chill on inter-Korean relations, which are starting to thaw at last, simply because North Korea launches a satellite.”Experts suspect that North Korea’s suggestive comments are intended to provide justification for the upcoming rocket launch.   (………………)

This could also lead to renewed calls from the US and Japan to deploy THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) on the Korean Peninsula to defend against North Korean rockets. If South Korea is dragged into a discussion of THAAD, opposition from China could strain relations between the two countries.  [Hankyoreh]

You can read more at the link.

If North Koreans would be so shocked to see President Park seated next to Chinese President Xi maybe the activist groups should start launching their propaganda balloons into North Korea with DVDs and images of this fact:

Park Geun Hye’s recent visit to China to attend 70th anniversary celebrations marking the end of WWII has been the subject of much attention and analysis, a fair amount of which speculated that the special treatment bestowed on the South Korean leader by Beijing portends stronger bilateral ties between the two nations going forward.

Lee Tae Hwan, head of the Chinese research center at Sejong Institute, said that South Korea and China’s joint criticism of North Korea’s aggravations on the Korean Peninsula sends a strong message to the North that it should cease and prevent further provocations.

“This comes ahead of the upcoming 70th anniversary of the founding of the Workers’ Party in October, when many expect the North to launch a missile or execute another show of strength. Remarks coming out of the China-South Korea meeting will undoubtedly place major pressure on the North,” he explained.

Cho Bong Hyun, a senior researcher from IBK Economic Research Institute, surmised that North Korea “must feel cornered,” after China backed South Korea’s stance that further provocations by North Korea on the Korean Peninsula are “unacceptable.”

“As a nation that was trying to recover its ‘blood-ally’ relationship with China, North Korea probably feels left out in the cold as China is trying to press ahead with a trilateral summit meeting among South Korea, China, and Japan,” Cho asserted.

The marked absence of commentary regarding North Korea’s nuclear development on China’s part, however, divided opinions on the implications for the recent Sino-South Korea interactions. The less skeptical of those watching the issue assert that China’s overt criticism of North Korea’s provocation is a clear indication of its stance and proof positive of consensus with South Korea on the nuclear issue as well.

Cho does urge caution and hasty conclusions from one meeting, noting that “it’s too much to expect denuclearization of North Korea through a single discussion between China and South Korea.” Now, he added, “it is imperative to devise strategies and continuously cooperate with China in order to realize a denuclearized Korean Peninsula.”  [Daily NK]

You can read more at the link.

A letter from #JiangZemin (not #XiJinping) thanking US for WW2 help was presented to US Ambassador in late August. http://t.co/AhUg1weHGx

— Chris Horton 何貴森 (@heguisen) September 6, 2015

I guess the good news is that if you take the Chinese government at their word they are not planning to send troops into downtown Seoul again to destroy the ROK.  On the other hand I think everyone knows peaceful reunification is never going to happen as long as the Kim regime remains in power in North Korea:

President Park Geun-hye on Friday said South Korea and China could quickly begin various discussions on how to achieve a peaceful unification between South and North Korea.

“Peaceful unification is the fundamental and the quickest way to resolve nuclear and other issues,” Park said in a press gaggle aboard Air Force One on the way back to Seoul from a trip to China, referring to tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Tensions persist on the divided peninsula over the North’s pursuit of its missile and nuclear weapons program. The communist country has a track record of staging provocations against South Korea.

The North — which conducted three nuclear tests — has repeatedly vowed to develop its economy and nuclear arsenal in tandem, viewing its nuclear programs as a powerful deterrent against what it claims is Washington’s hostile policy against it.

South Korea “would cooperate with China for a peaceful unification,” Park said. “Various discussions could begin as soon as possible on how to achieve a peaceful unification.” She did not provide a specific time frame.  [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link.

At the military parade in Beijing marking the seventieth anniversary of China’s war victory over Japan, from right to left, former Chinese Presidents Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin, current President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, South Korean President Park Geun-hye, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Uzbek President Islam Karimov, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Sep. 3. (by Lee Jeong-yong, staff photographer) [Hankyoreh]

Considering that the North Korean leader did not attend the parade I think that his delegate deserved to get the second class status he received from the Chinese:

The North Korean delegation that attended China’s military parade was headed by Vice Marshal Choe Ryong-hae.On Sep. 3, Choe was present at the military parade on the parapet of Tiananmen – the Gate of Heavenly Peace – in Beijing. Choe was standing almost at the end of the line of dignitaries, to the right side of Chinese President Xi Jinping. This was a sharp contrast with Park Geun-hye, who was only one person away from Xi.There is speculation that China‘s decision to position the North Korean envoy toward the end of the line of dignitaries reflects China’s relations with North Korea, which have been chilly in recent years.Another interpretation is that China placed Choe at some distance from Park out of consideration for the South Korean president.But it‘s also possible that, considering that Choe was just an envoy, and not the leader of North Korea, his position on the parapet should not necessarily be seen as a snub. When China announced on Aug. 25 the figures who would be attending its ceremony commemorating the victory over Japan in World War II, its inclusion of Choe in a list of 30 national leaders including Park and Russian President Vladimir Putin was regarded as a sign of respect.  [Hankyoreh]

Also unsurprisingly is that the North Korean state media did not report President Park Geun-hye’s attendance at the military parade where she received the VIP treatment.

With all the negative press that Japan constantly gets beaten with over historical issues it is actually a bit surprising that Japan is not only the most favorably viewed nation in Asia by other Asian nations, but by a wide margin over #2 China.  I was surprised to see China at #2 considering the various territorial land grab schemes they have going on with various neighboring countries:

The coming decades promise to be the Asian Century, when the most populous region, with some of the world’s fastest growing economies, is likely to become the global nexus of commercial, cultural and geopolitical activity. For this reason, how people in the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia, see each other and their leaders is of growing importance.

Overall, despite historical and territorial frictions, Asia-Pacific publics tend to view their regional neighbors in a positive light, with Japan judged most favorably. But these same publics also express limited confidence in the region’s most prominent national leaders when it comes to their handling of international issues. These are some of the findings from a new Pew Research Center survey of 15,313 people in 10 Asia-Pacific nations and the U.S. conducted from April 6 to May 27, 2015.

No Leader Has Majority’s ConfidenceA median of 71% in the region have a favorable view of Japan, with positive views exceeding negative sentiment by more than five-to-one.1 A median of 57% voice a favorable opinion of China. Roughly half (51%) see India in a positive light. And just under half (47%) give South Korea a thumbs-up, in part due to a higher proportion of those surveyed who express no opinion. Nevertheless, favorable views of South Korea outweigh negative sentiment by two-to-one.  [Pew Research Center]

You can read more at the link, but something else of interest from the poll is that 61% of South Koreans have a favorable view of China and only 25% have a favorable view of Japan.  This shows the power the media and the political class have had in South Korea in shaping public opinion about Japan.  China is the nation with its own territorial squabble with South Korea, tried by military force to destroy the Republic of Korea, responsible for the killing of more Koreans during the Korean War than Imperial Japan ever committed, continues to enable the Kim regime committed to destroying the ROK, interferes in ROK internal affairs, and maintains a modern day comfort women system of Korean women.  This is all overlooked by the ROK public because of the constant sensationalism given to Dokdo and historical issues with Japan that pail in comparison to what the Chinese have done to Korea more recently.

A China hard-landing would be devastating for South Korea, finance minister tells WSJ @Kwanwoo http://t.co/WAZ6y2KFiz pic.twitter.com/Efi2aRT20l

— Alastair Gale (@AlastairGale) September 4, 2015

https://twitter.com/SouthKoreaDaily/status/637756489302564865

US Admiral: China 'Very Interested' in RIMPAC 2016 http://t.co/ej2uNCod2m

— The Diplomat (@Diplomat_APAC) August 30, 2015