This is a significant accomplishment for China to have completed its BeiDou satellite navigation system. It increases both their soft power as well as military clout to not be reliant on GPS:
A model of Chinese BeiDou Navigation Satellite System is displayed during the 12th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai city, south China’s Guangdong province on Nov. 7, 2018. President Xi Jinping, the leader of the ruling Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army, officially commissioned the system in Beijing on Friday, July 31, 2020.
China is celebrating the completion of its BeiDou Navigation Satellite System that could rival the U.S. Global Positioning System and significantly boost China’s security and geopolitical clout.
President Xi Jinping, the leader of the ruling Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army, officially commissioned the system Friday at a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
That followed a declaration that the 55th and final geostationary satellite in the constellation launched June 23 was operating after having completed all tests.
This is an extraordinary little video that underscores the fact that the Hong Kong NSL could target anyone anywhere for advocating on behalf of Hong Kong. This is extraterritoriality turned on its head and is another example of China's imperial overreach https://t.co/UJunJ8gi1Y
It looks like South Korea may end up fining TikTok, not for leaking user information to the Chinese government, but instead not getting permission from the parents of minor to use the app:
Korea is moving to join the ongoing boycott of Chinese video app TikTok, which has received criticism from countries including India and the United States over alleged mishandling of users’ personal information, according to a government official Monday.
An official of the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) said the country’s top telecom regulator recently completed an investigation into TikTok over suspicions that the internationally popular social media platform has sent user data to the Chinese government.
The KCC also alleged that TikTok has not obtained the consent of legal representatives of users in Korea under 14 years old.
“We will hold a meeting about whether to impose a fine on TikTok on Wednesday (June 15), and the results will be announced the same day,” an official in the KCC’s personal data infringement department told The Korea Times.
You can read more at the link, but people just need to understand that if they use TikTok they are allowing their personal information from their phone and user history to be compiled by the Chinese government.
The Galwan Valley incident this past week between China and India reminds a lot of what happened during the 1976 DMZ Axe Murder Incident. Instead of axes the Chinese used these improvised weapons to murder the Indian troops that were conducting duties in an area of the valley the Chinese claim was there’s.
An image passed to the BBC by an Indian military official shows crude weapons purportedly used in the fight
An image has emerged showing a crude weapon purportedly used by Chinese forces in the fatal brawl along China’s disputed border with India on Monday.
The fight in the Galwan Valley left at least 20 Indian soldiers dead and raised tensions between the two powers.
China did not acknowledge any casualties among its forces. Both sides accused the other of an incursion.
The border between the two nations in the region is poorly demarcated and can shift with topographical changes.
The image that emerged on Thursday showed crude weapons that appeared to be made from iron rods studded with nails. It was passed to the BBC by a senior Indian military official on the India-China border, who said the weapons had been used by the Chinese.
Defence analyst Ajai Shukla, who first tweeted the image, described the use of such weapons as “barbarism”. The absence of firearms in the clash dates back to a 1996 agreement between the two sides that guns and explosives be prohibited along the disputed stretch of the border, to deter escalation.
The image was widely shared on Twitter in India, prompting outrage from many social media users. Neither Chinese or Indian officials commented on it.
Media reports said troops clashed on ridges at a height of nearly 4,267m (14,000 ft) along a steep terrain, with some soldiers falling into the fast-flowing Galwan river in sub-zero temperatures.
You can read more at the link, but with the DMZ Axe Murder Incident, U.S. troops were trimming a tree on the North Korean side of the JSA which prompted what many believe was a planned attack by the North Koreans. I would not be surprised if this attack has long been planned by the Chinese as well considering the use of these improvised weapons. With all the coronavirus and economic issues in China, what better way to divert domestic attention by stoking nationalism by killing a few Indian troops?
Currently it doesn’t appear that the Indians are about to mount a strong response like the U.S. did after the DMZ Axe Murder Incident. If they don’t this will only embolden the Chinese to further take action either against India again or in a place like the South China Sea against other nations they have border disputes with.
I have always said that the Kim regime is not going to feel the real effect of sanctions until the Chinese banks are sanctioned. Hopefully this is a sign of the U.S. government more aggressively going after Chinese banks:
The U.S. government has charged 28 North Korean and five Chinese individuals with facilitating more than $2.5 billion in illegal payments for Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and missile program as part of a clandestine global network operating from countries including China, Russia, Libya and Thailand.
In a 50-page federal indictment unsealed Thursday in Washington, D.C., the Justice Department accused the individuals of acting as agents of North Korea’s Foreign Trade Bank, in what officials say is the largest North Korean sanctions violations case charged by the U.S.
Working for the FTB — which is North Korea’s primary foreign currency bank and under sanctions for facilitating nuclear proliferation — the agents allegedly set up more than 250 front companies and covert bank branches around the world to mask payments transiting the U.S. financial system, including through several Chinese banks and for equipment from Chinese telecommunications giants Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp., according to charging documents. (…….)
The massive enforcement action comes as United Nations experts have detailed North Korea’s widespread evasion of sanctions by using agents of state-owned and other banks overseas to facilitate a global web of illicit oil, arms and coal deals to bring in foreign currency. The efforts have been augmented through offshore, ship-to-ship transfers, large-scalecryptocurrency hacks and ransomware attacks.
A ROK Drop favorite Joshua Stanton from One Free Korea is quoted in the article:
“This adds to the already overwhelming evidence that China’s government is willfully assisting Kim Jong Un in his violations of North Korea sanctions,” said Joshua Stanton, a lawyer who helped write the 2016 law that strengthened North Korea sanctions.
“I’ll believe it’s ‘maximum pressure’ when those banks begin to face nine- and ten-digit penalties, like the ones President (Barack) Obama imposed on European banks that broke Iran sanctions,” Stanton said, and has advised House and Senate staffers on North Korea sanctions law.
According to the article no one is in custody because assuredly the North Koreans and Chinese won’t hand these people over. However, already $63 million in assets have been seized.
Maybe the politics of the coronavirus is finally causing our government to take real action against Chinese banks?
