The islands of Vanuatu may appear as relative specks in the South Pacific Ocean, but for China’s military strategists, they could provide a significant boost in Beijing’s ability to project naval power.
The prospect of a Chinese military base in the heart of the South Pacific, reported by Australia’s Fairfax Media on Tuesday, will also complicate the strategic dominance of Western powers in an ocean area they have long effectively controlled, according to diplomats and experts monitoring developments.
Fairfax Media reported China has approached Vanuatu about establishing a permanent military presence there, saying the possibility of such a facility has already alarmed high level officials in Canberra and Washington.
Vanuatu’s foreign minister denied there had been any such discussion of a Chinese military base in the country. China’s defence ministry said the Fairfax report “completely did not accord with the facts” while a foreign ministry spokesman said the report was “fake news”. (…….)
While far from key shipping lanes and not as important as Indian Ocean ports, Vanuatu would put China close to the coast of Australia, a major U.S. ally, and give it a presence nearer the U.S. base of Guam beyond the Asian island chains that hem in Beijing.
Graeme Smith, a Pacific Affairs expert at the Australian National University, said a Chinese base on Vanuatu would send a strong message to Australia, the United States and their allies.
“It would be an incredibly aggressive signal to both the U.S. and Australia that ‘We’re here, get used to it’,” he told Reuters in a telephone interview. [Reuters]
You can read more at the link, but how long will it be before some Chinese scholar says Vanuatu was historically part of China?
Yet another example of a stupid criminal getting caught after committing a horrific crime:
Kim Sung-kwan is being taken from Yongin Police Station, Gyeonggi Province, Monday, to inspect the crime scene. / Yonhap
Kim Sung-kwan, a Korean who flew to Auckland three months ago after allegedly killing three family members here, said Sunday that he had plotted everything to take his mother’s money.
According to police, he has been arrested on charges of killing his mother, 55, stepfather, 57, and half-brother, 14, with a sharp object on Oct. 21 and stealing 118 million won ($110,000) from the mother’s two bank accounts.
Police have found that Kim owed 60 million won and had no stable job.
Police have also confirmed that for two days before executing the plot, Kim searched information about weapons, how to use them and how a criminal extradition system worked between Korea and New Zealand.
According to police, he first killed his mother and half-brother at her apartment in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, between 2 p.m. and 5p.m. He then killed his stepfather at a parking lot in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, at around 8 p.m. the same day.
Two days later, he flew to New Zealand with his wife, surnamed Jung, and two daughters ― one aged two years and the other seven months at that time.
But Kim, who has a permanent residency in New Zealand not know he was wanted there for a crime he committed two years ago ― stealing household appliances.
By the time a local court found him guilty of the theft, Korean police learned where he was and asked the New Zealand government to send him back. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but obviously his Internet research on extraditions from New Zealand were not very well executed. Hopefully this brutal murderer rots in prison for the rest of his life.
The New Zealand Navy frigate Te Kaha arrives at South Korea’s port city of Busan on June 9, 2017, after a drill in Southeast Asia. The 3,600-ton vessel is armed with a 50-inch 54 caliber gun, Mk 41 vertical launch system for surface-to-air missiles, a Phalanx close-in weapons system and Mk 46 torpedoes. Te Kaha sailors will engage in various friendship activities with South Korea’s Navy personnel before departing on June 13. (Yonhap)
When I hear people say “Happy Memorial Day” I too find it a bit awkward considering the real meaning of this holiday:
Allison Jaslow heard it more than once as the long holiday weekend approached — a cheerful “Happy Memorial Day!” from oblivious well-wishers.
The former Army captain and Iraq War veteran had a ready reply, telling them, matter-of-factly, that she considered it a work weekend. Jaslow will be at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday to take part in the annual wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. She’ll then visit Section 60, the final resting place of many service members who died in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“You can see it in people’s faces that they’re a little horrified that they forget this is what the day’s about,” said Jaslow, 34, who wears a bracelet bearing the name of a fallen comrade. “Culturally, we’ve kind of lost sight of what the day’s supposed to mean.”
While millions of Americans celebrate the long Memorial Day weekend as the unofficial start of summer — think beaches and backyard barbecues, mattress sales and sporting events — some veterans and loved ones of fallen military members wish the holiday that honors more than 1 million people who died serving their country would command more respect. [CBS 58]
In my opinion Memorial Day really should begin with a somber tone much like I have seen with ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand. Communities across both nations meet for morning remembrance services every April 25th. It is a very big deal and has a somber tone to them. After the morning service the rest of the day depending on the community there could be parades and other events going on to honor servicemembers and all of them usually involve drinking beer. So the whole day is not somber, but enough of it is so people don’t lose the real meaning of the day.
It seems if Memorial Day was on a fixed date like ANZAC Day then a tradition like this could be established in the United States as well. However, as long as it remains at its current last Monday of May it will remain a holiday that represents the unofficial start of summer for most people.
Korean War veterans from the British Commonwealth lay flowers during a ceremony at the War Memorial Hall in Seoul on the occasion of the anniversary of Anzac Day on April 25, 2017. Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders who served and died in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations. Britain and 15 other nations fought for South Korea against invading North Korea under the U.N. flag during the 1950-53 war. The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs (MPBA) invited them. (Photo courtesy of MPBA) (Yonhap)
I have met people of Maori descent who serve in the US military. I wonder what the Pentagon’s reaction would be to someone of Maori heritage wanting a facial tattoo for cultural reasons?:
After serving 20 years in the Navy a combat specialist has become the first to be allowed a full facial Maori tattoo.
Rawiri Barriball was granted clearance in December to wear the moko after having to apply for it under navy law, NZME reported.
“I’ve always felt I was gonna get it, I just wanted to achieve a few things first and one of them was doing 20 years’ [service],” he told NewsHub. [Stuff.co.nz]
You can read more at the link, but I have spent quite a bit of time in New Zealand and it is not uncommon to see Maori with a facial tattoo. However, I saw very few Maori have facial tattoos as large as Mr. Barriball.
Here is yet another example of China allowing North Korea to evade sanctions to purchase aircraft with military utility:
One of the planes displayed during North Korea’s first air show last month was made in New Zealand with American parts, underscoring the difficulties of implementing sanctions when North Korea’s long border with China remains so porous.
North Korea put on quite the display at the Wonsan International Friendship Air Festival, held at the recently upgraded Kalma airport on the country’s east coast. Planes featured included a one-sixth size version of an American F-16 fighter jet and Soviet-era MiGs flown by female pilots known as “flowers of the sky.” There also was a two-hour-long aerobatic display by North Korea’s air force.
The air show is thought to have been inspired by Kim Jong Un’s fascination with all things aviation. The North Korean leader has been featured in state media piloting light aircraft and has a summer residence in Wonsan, where the renovation of the airport is thought to be linked to his love of flying.
Aviation enthusiasts have now traced one of the planes on display – a white, 10-seater P-750 XSTOL with a North Korean flag on its tail — to Pacific Aerospace, an aviation company based in Hamilton, New Zealand.
New Zealand’s Foreign Ministry is investigating how the plane ended up in North Korea, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Pacific Aerospace sold the plane last December through its Chinese agent, Beijing General Aviation Company, to a Chinese company called Free Sky Aviation, Damian Camp, the company’s chief executive, said in a phone interview. It remains registered with the Chinese civil aviation authority, he said.
Camp said he was “completely mystified” to learn that the plane had shown up in North Korea with a North Korean flag on it. [Washington Post via a reader tip]
You can read more at the link as well as view video of the aircraft at this link.
Mud-covered New Zealand’s Ambassador to South Korea Clare Fearnley (C) pretends to be trapped inside a mud prison at the Daecheon Beach Mud Plaza in the city of Boryeong on South Korea’s west coast on July 22, 2016, as she takes part in the Boryeong Mud Festival, which opened on July 16 and will run through July 24. Boryeong mud is rich in natural minerals and is known to prevent skin aging. (Yonhap)
It looks like a New Zealand diplomat and his friends are in some serious trouble from an incident that happened recently in Itaewon:
Police questioned a New Zealand diplomat on Wednesday for allegedly obstructing officers who tried to arrest his friends on suspicion of molesting a female bar worker.
Yongsan Police Station in Seoul said two companions of the diplomat, whose identity remains unknown, allegedly molested a female employee at a bar in Itaewon Tuesday night and assaulted a security guard who tried to take them to police. As police tried to arrest the two, the diplomat allegedly pushed them and kicked the patrol car.
The diplomat and his friends were taken to the police station that night. But the diplomat was freed under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which gives foreign diplomats here immunity from civil or criminal prosecution. [Korea Times]
