Tag: China

This is quite a high rate of positives coming in which makes you imagine how many people must be infected right now in China:

Seen here is the arrival hall of Incheon International Airport’s Terminal 1, west of Seoul, on Jan. 3, 2023. According to quarantine authorities, 61, or 19.7 percent, of 309 travelers from China were found to have been infected with the virus in COVID-19 tests at the airport the previous day, when South Korea began to require a PCR test for all entrants from the neighboring country.

Yonhap

It appears the ROK needs to work on their quarantine procedures because one infected Chinese traveler was able to escape by getting on to a bus:

A man of Chinese nationality has escaped a quarantine facility, Tuesday night, where he was placed in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19 upon arriving in Korea earlier in the day. 

The Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency said Wednesday that the 41-year-old Chinese national, who had tested positive in a PCR test upon arriving at Incheon International Airport, disappeared from a hotel on Yeongjongdo Island at around 10 p.m. Tuesday. The hotel is currently being used as a government-designated isolation facility for foreign nationals.

The man allegedly ran away after arriving at the hotel with other virus carriers via a government-provided bus. Footage from surveillance cameras showed that he was last spotted near a large retailer located about 300 meters from the hotel, but his whereabouts are still unknown.

Korea Times

It is going to be interesting to see if China’s COVID surge leads to a surge of infections in other nations in the region like Korea and Japan.

It should come as know surprise that the secret Chinese police base is being run out of a restaurant in the same building housing China’s state broadcaster CCTV:

A Chinese restaurant in southern Seoul suspected of being operated as a base for a secret Chinese police station in Korea was found to have opened another branch office right in front of the National Assembly building in Yeouido, western Seoul.  
   
The company opened the office in a nine-story building located on a road directly in front of the National Assembly building in December 2020, according to a certificate of registry information on the restaurant’s operator obtained by the JoongAng Ilbo.  
   
A total of seven businesses were in operation in the building, the JoongAng Ilbo confirmed Friday. 

wo Chinese media-related companies were located in the building: a Chinese media-related office and the Seoul bureau office of China Central Television (CCTV) were on the ninth floor. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

This would not be surprising at all if the Chinese had a secret police station in South Korea. I would assume though they would be running it out of their embassy to avoid detection:

Seoul is looking into the alleged presence of a secret Chinese police station in Korea, the Foreign Ministry confirmed Tuesday.  
   
“We have been communicating with relevant departments on the matter,” a Foreign Ministry official told the press in Seoul on Tuesday. “At this point we do not have anything significant to share.”  
   
The nongovernmental human rights organization Safeguard Defenders announced earlier this month that China’s local-level public security bureau based in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, was running at least one police station in Korea, though it couldn’t confirm its exact location. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but these secret police stations are suspected in 53 nations are and are used to monitor Chinese nationals in these countries.

It looks like China is experiencing what most of the world already went through one to two years ago. The protests must have been a shock to the CCP to so quickly drop their prior COVID Zero policy:

Beijing’s rapidly spreading COVID outbreak has turned the Chinese capital of 22 million people into a virtual ghost town as stores close and restaurants empty, underscoring the cost of President Xi Jinping’s sudden pivot away from COVID zero.

Bucking expectations for a managed and gradual transition, Xi’s government is now allowing the virus to run rampant. While officials have abandoned efforts to track case numbers, anecdotal evidence suggests entire families and offices in Beijing have become infected in the span of just days — a potential harbinger of worse things to come in other parts of China with less-developed health care systems.

Beijing residents are hunkering down at home, either because they’re scared of catching the virus or because they already have it. While many grocery stores are still open to provide essentials, delivery services for food and other goods are facing delays with workers out sick. The retrenchment suggests China’s economy is likely to get worse before the benefits of exiting COVID zero start to kick in next year.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Getting rare earth minerals from Australia seems like a much more reliable alternative than China where they have demonstrated before they are willing to economically retaliate against South Korea to pressure them on issues:

Korea has been strengthening ties with Australia to produce rare earth elements and decrease its high dependence on China, as core minerals for high-tech industries are becoming increasingly important.

Although Korea is currently dependent on China for rare earth elements, Rowena Smith, CEO of Australia-based critical metals producer ASM, said the company has been strengthening relations in order to provide a stable supply of core minerals to Korean companies. (…….)

“In our experience, Australia’s and Korea’s business culture and shared values make us perfect partners to develop our business, using Australian natural resources and Korea’s access to skills and technology,” she added.

For years, ASM has been conducting the Dubbo project, which mines minerals such as rare earth elements from mines in Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia and processes them in Korea. Australia has the world’s sixth-largest deposit of rare earth elements of 3.27 million tons, after China, Vietnam, Brazil and Russia.

ASM said the Dubbo project serves as a sustainable and reliable source of core minerals such as rare earth elements, meeting the skyrocketing demand for these materials in the global market.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This will be a big summit for President Yoon when it gets scheduled. It will be interesting if THAAD will be a talking point for President Xi when this summit happens:

The foreign ministers of South Korea and China agreed to strengthen bilateral diplomatic ties, Monday, as the two countries seek to hold high-level exchanges, including a summit in Seoul, “in the new era of cooperation.”

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Minister Park Jin and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi held a virtual meeting and agreed to “maintain exchange momentum” for President Yoon Suk-yeol and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping following their first summit in Bali, Indonesia, last month.

The top diplomats said they will work together to honor what was agreed upon during the previous summit and to possibly hold a second one in South Korea, but did not elaborate.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.