Category: China

The fact that China did not make a big deal out of this 60 year treaty anniversary with North Korea shows they maybe relations are not as tight as they may want people to think:

The leaders of North Korea and China pledged greater mutual assistance and cooperation on the 60th anniversary of their treaty of friendship through a letter exchange, according to the North’s state news agency on Sunday.  
   
The North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released on Sunday the full texts of the letters exchanged by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Chinese President Xi Jinping marking the 60th anniversary of the Sino-North Korean Mutual Aid and Cooperation Friendship Treaty, which was signed on July 11, 1961.  
   
In his letter to Xi, Kim described the friendship between the two countries as growing in vitality, especially in the face of what he called “hostile forces” around the world.  
   
“Despite the unprecedentedly complicated international situation in recent years, comradely trust and militant friendship between the DPRK and China grow stronger day by day,” Kim wrote, according to the KCNA.  
   
Xi wrote back that he looked forward to strengthening “strategic communication” between the two countries and called the 1961 treaty as laying “important political and legal foundations for consolidating the militant friendship” between China and the North. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

That is what think tankers are advocating for:

If the Army is serious about countering the Chinese military in the Pacific, it needs to permanently stationan Armored Brigade Combat Team on Taiwan, according to some think tankers.

That type of basing decision would likely abandon the current policy of strategic ambiguity toward Taiwan, which intentionally leaves it unclear as to whether Americans would defend the island in a cross-strait conflict. Uncertain about their superpower backers, Taiwanese leaders are less likely to unilaterally declare independence and China is less inclined to hurry to war.

Army Times

You can read more at the link.

The Moon administration is already trying to backtrack on the Joint statement made by President Moon and President Biden during last week’s summit:

The government has stepped up efforts to prevent any fallout from President Moon Jae-in’s summit with U.S. President Joe Biden adversely affecting South Korea’s ties with China, with the foreign minister saying their post-summit statement touching on Taiwan was “theoretical and principled.” 

President Moon and his U.S. counterpart held their first in-person meeting at the White House last week and their joint statement referred to the importance of preserving peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. It also referred to freedom of navigation and overflights in the South China Sea and beyond.

Despite not directly mentioning China, it was seen as a sign that South Korea agreed with the U.S.’s anti-China campaign, and this drew a strong response from Beijing. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.