Tag: China

This agreement is basically Chinese style neo-colonialism. I guess we will see if Chinese money will be enough to pay off the leaders of these countries to agree to this new style of colonialism:

China wants 10 small Pacific nations to endorse a sweeping agreement covering everything from security to fisheries in what one leader warns is a “game-changing” bid by Beijing to wrest control of the region.

A draft of the agreement obtained by The Associated Press shows that China wants to train Pacific police officers, team up on “traditional and non-traditional security” and expand law enforcement cooperation.

China also wants to jointly develop a marine plan for fisheries — which would include the Pacific’s lucrative tuna catch — increase cooperation on running the region’s internet networks, and set up cultural Confucius Institutes and classrooms. China also mentions the possibility of setting up a free trade area with the Pacific nations.

China’s move comes as Foreign Minister Wang Yi and a 20-strong delegation begin a visit to the region this week.

Wang is visiting seven of the countries he hopes will endorse the “Common Development Vision” — the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Papua New Guinea.

Wang is also holding virtual meetings with the other three potential signatories — the Cook Islands, Niue and the Federated States of Micronesia. He is hoping the countries will endorse the pre-written agreement as part of a joint communique after a scheduled May 30 meeting in Fiji he is holding with the foreign ministers from each of the 10 countries.

But Micronesia’s President David Panuelo has written an eight-page letter to the leaders of other Pacific nations saying his nation won’t be endorsing the plan and warning of dire consequences if others do.

Panuelo said in his letter, which the AP has obtained, that behind attractive words in the agreement like “equity” and “justice” are many worrying details.

Among other concerns, he said, is that the agreement opens the door for China to own and control the region’s fisheries and communications infrastructure. He said China could intercept emails and listen in on phone calls.

Panuelo said in his letter that the agreement is “an intent to shift those of us with diplomatic relations with China very close to Beijing’s orbit, intrinsically tying the whole of our economies and societies to them.”

He warns the agreement would needlessly heighten geopolitical tensions and threaten regional stability.

Associated Press

You can read more at the link.

The Chinese and Russians are apparently trying to show the ROK how united they are after President Biden’s trip to Korea and Japan:

“Prior to their entry into the KADIZ, our military deployed Air Force fighters to conduct tactical steps in preparation against potential accidental situations,” the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters.

At 7:56 a.m., two Chinese H-6 bombers entered the KADIZ from an area 126 kilometers northwest of Ieodo, a submerged rock south of the southern island of Jeju, according to the JCS. They moved toward the East Sea and exited the zone at around 9:33 a.m.

Later, the two Chinese warplanes joined four Russian warplanes, including two TU-95 bombers, and entered the KADIZ together at 9:58 a.m. They then left the zone at 10:15 a.m.

At around 3:40 p.m., four Chinese and two Russian military aircraft were spotted flying in an area some 267 km southeast of Ieodo — outside the KADIZ — the JCS said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it is likely a good thing to let the Chinese know exactly where the U.S. stands if they try and attack Taiwan:

President Joe Biden, speaking Monday during his first visit presidential visit to Japan, signaled an apparent end to the U.S. policy of strategic ambiguity by saying the United States would defend Taiwan against a Chinese invasion.

“Yes,” Biden replied when asked by a reporter in Tokyo if he was willing to get involved militarily to defend the island.

“That’s the commitment we made,” he said at a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The U.S. has maintained a “One China policy” that acknowledges Beijing’s claim of sovereignty over Taiwan. However, the policy doesn’t give China the right to use force to take over the island, Biden said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

What a massive screw up this is:

A television news channel in Taiwan apologized after erroneously reporting on Wednesday that China had launched an invasion just outside the capital Taipei, triggering alarm online.

Taipei-based Chinese Television Systems, a TV network partially owned by the Taiwanese government, ran a ticker along the bottom of the screen at 7 a.m. local time on Wednesday saying that China had attacked several areas of New Taipei City.

“New Taipei City has been hit by a Chinese Communist guided missile. Ships in Taipei Port have exploded, damaging facilities,” the graphic read. “Banqiao Station is reported to have been set on fire by explosives placed by special forces.”

The station issued an on-air apology a few hours later, explaining that the chyron had been produced for a New Taipei City Fire Department disaster-prevention video and broadcast due to a production error. CTS later announced an investigation into what it called “gross negligence,” pledging in a text message to severely punish any staff found to be responsible.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

The ADIZ incursions happened reportedly last month before North Korea’s ICBM test:

Russian and Chinese military aircraft entered South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) without prior notice last month ahead of North Korea’s long-range missile launch, a Seoul official said Tuesday.

Two Russian planes flew into the KADIZ on March 24, prompting South Korea’s military to scramble its fighters to prevent their approach to the country’s airspace, according to the official.

The incident came just hours before Pyongyang test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into the East Sea — a launch that ended its yearslong moratorium on nuclear and ICBM testing.

The Russian warplanes flew in the KADIZ northwest of South Korea’s Ulleung Island in the East Sea at around 11 a.m. and moved out of it 30 minutes later.

A day earlier, a Chinese military plane also entered the KADIZ near Ieo Islet, a submerged rock south of South Korea’s southern resort island of Jeju. The official said the area was where the air defense identification zones of South Korea and China overlapped.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but China has been claiming Ieodo as their territory and have been flying bombers over it in response for years. The Russians have often had Korean ADIZ incursions and even actively violated Korean airspace over Dokdo before that led to warning shots from the ROK Air Force.

Incoming ROK President-Elect Yoon Suk-yeol campaigned on purchasing a second THAAD battery to defend South Korea. The Chinese are making veiled threats if South Korea decides to purchase a missile defense system to defend themselves with in the face of North Korea increasingly testing new missiles. If North Korea wasn’t regularly threatening the ROK with missiles it would not need a THAAD battery in the first place:

South Korea will hazard its improving relationship with China if it deploys a second American-made missile defense battery, China’s ambassador in Seoul implied Thursday.

The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, is a sensitive topic in relations between the two countries, and South Korea “should not be treading in that step again,” Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming said in a speech Thursday at the Millennium Hilton Seoul hotel, according to news reports the next day. (………..)

Xing, speaking at an event hosted by the Institute for Global Strategy and Cooperation, described China-South Korea relations as “really bad” following the THAAD deployment. They had “recovered the right track because the two nations made joint efforts,” he said Thursday.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.