Tag: China

What is ironic about this is that the Russians have done something more provocative than the Japanese have ever done with Dokdo. So are all the Dokdo crazies going to go protest in front of the Russian embassy now?:

South Korean warplanes fired hundreds of warning shots at a Russian military aircraft that entered South Korean airspace on Tuesday, defence officials said, while Russia denied violating any airspace and accused South Korean pilots of being reckless.

It was the first time a Russian military aircraft had violated South Korean airspace, an official at the South Korean Ministry of National Defence said in Seoul. 

The incident, which also involved China and Japan, could complicate relations and raise tension in a region that has for years been over-shadowed by hostility between the United States and North Korea. 

Two Russian Tu-95 bombers and two Chinese H-6 bombers entered the Korea Air Defence Identification Zone (KADIZ) together early on Tuesday, the South Korean defence ministry said. 

A separate Russian A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft later twice violated South Korean airspace over Dokdo – an island that is occupied by South Korea and also claimed by Japan, which calls it Takeshima – just after 9 a.m. (midnight GMT Monday), according to the South Korean military.

Reuters via a reader tip

You can read more at the link, but this is the first time a foreign aircraft has violated ROK air space and warning shots were fired. Despite all the Japan bashing over the years on the Dokdo issue they have never done anything close to this. Don’t forget that the Chinese are involved in this as well. Will any of the so called patriotic Koreans show up and protest in front of the Chinese embassy?

In my opinion this appears to be a planned provocation by the Chinese and the Russians to stir the pot between the ROK and Japan since they both claim the Dokdo islets.

Here is an excerpt from a joint statement put out by former senior officials of the Korean Foreign Service that was translated by Dr. Tara O:

With massive economic, financial, and technological assistance from our staunch allies, including the United States and Japan, Korea was not only able to quickly rebuild its economy, but concentrate on developing key sectors, such as heavy industry, petrochemicals, construction, shipbuilding, automobiles, and the electronics industry, including semiconductors, to become one of the world’s leading industrial and trade powerhouses.

Strenuously ignoring this proud history of its foundation and the development of the Republic of Korea, President Moon Jae-in continues to threaten the Republic of Korea-U.S. alliance, which has served as the cornerstone of our nation’s development.

The close ties between our two nations is under assault from several fronts, including the transfer of wartime operational control between Korea and the U.S., a lukewarm response to the deployment of THAAD on the peninsula, refusal to take part in the U.S.-led missile defense system, and vacillation over participating in a Korea-U.S.-Japan partnership.

In its foreign policy towards Japan, the Moon administration has adopted the anachronistic stance of treating Japan as if it were still yesterday’s imperialist power, instead of one of today’s important defenders of free democracy and a member of the G7 countries.  The Moon administration continuously provokes Japan over emotionally-charged disputes regarding the misfortunes in the history of the two countries, and thereby not only harming our national interests, but earning the reproach of the international community.

Overly conscious of China, the Moon administration has adopted a recalcitrant attitude towards the Korea-U.S. defense partnership, making promises contrary to the Korea-U.S.-Japan alliance and taking an almost servile attitudes towards China, with little regard to our national sovereignty. 

On the other hand, the administration is relentlessly extending unrealistic reconciliatory gestures towards North Korea, the very party that has threatened our national foundation and subsequent stable and peaceful economic development.

East Asia Research Center

You can read more at the link.

It appears that the Abe administration has lost patience with the Moon administration over the forced labor ruling and decided to do what the Chinese did and economically retaliate against South Korea:

 South Korea’s trade minister said Monday the government plans to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over Japan’s decision to tighten the rules for exports of semiconductor and display materials to Seoul, amid a simmering diplomatic row over wartime force labor. 

“South Korea has been making efforts to maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with Japan,” Industry Minister Sung Yun-mo told reporters, describing the Japanese measure as an “economic retaliation” against South Korea’s Supreme Court ruling on compensation for wartime forced labor.

Sung added the action contradicts not only WTO rules but also global efforts to seek a free, fair and predictable free-trade environment as proposed at the Group of 20 summit held in Japan last week.

“(The government) will continue to communicate closely with local firms to minimize the impact, and will take this event as an opportunity to beef up the competitiveness of the country’s parts, materials, and equipment (sectors),” Sung said, adding that Seoul will take all necessary measures including diversifying import sources.

Earlier in the day, the Japanese government said it will strengthen regulations on the export to South Korea of high-tech chemicals used in semiconductor and smartphone production starting Thursday, apparently in response to South Korea’s ruling on compensation for wartime forced labor.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but for those that have not been following this issue, the Japanese side does not dispute the forced labor claim, what they dispute is that they already paid compensation with the 1965 treaty. Instead of handing out money for individual compensation, the ROK government used the money to develop the economy instead.

As I have always said about this issue is the ROK government going to support compensation claims against China for their role in the destruction of South Korea during the Korean War that killed tens of thousands of South Koreans?

Speaking of China they have just launched their latest economic retaliation against South Korea for hosting the THAAD battery:

China removed ~120 billboard/bus station ads of #SouthKorean companies #Samsung, #Hyundai & #Kia overnight on 6/29 with no compensation nor notice. It recruited ~400 people using cranes & solder equipment. China’s pressure tactic.https://t.co/1V7PrA1Kft

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) July 1, 2019

Despite all the economic retaliation against South Korea from China over the THAAD dispute, the Moon administration has not lodged complaints to the WTO. This is just the latest example of hypocrisy between how the ROK government responds to the Japanese government compared to China.

Chinese Emperor President Xi during a G-20 summit meeting with President Moon is once again calling for the removal of the THAAD missile defense system from South Korea:

They talked about various pending issues for around 40 minutes through simultaneous translation.

Some thorny issues were raised as well, such as the China-U.S. dispute over cybersecurity related to 5G technology and the advanced U.S. missile defense system deployed in South Korea, called THAAD, according to a Cheong Wa Dae official.

Xi asked Moon to resolve the THAAD problem, as Beijing has been strongly opposed to its presence on the peninsula. Moon replied that it’s a matter linked with denuclearization.

At the outset of the talks, which pool media were allowed to cover, Xi said Beijing would contribute to maintaining regional peace and stability.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but China does not sound like much of a friend and promoting peace when it tells South Korea to disarm itself and make its citizens vulnerable to missile attacks from the thug regime the Chinese support.

This statement from Kiron Skinner from the State Department is just bizarre:

Kiron Skinner says the U.S. is fighting a racial war of civilizations pitting the Americans against a non-Caucasian foe in China for the first time.

What about the Pacific War, part of World War II, waged between the U.S. and Japan? So the U.S. State Department’s policy planning director is factually inaccurate. 

Also her being Afro-American may have tinted her lens, putting the situation in a racial perspective. After all it is plausible that the U.S.-China rivalry, now being expressed in a trade war, is a clash of values, not race, as one of my Western friends argues.

On the surface, my friend’s argument may make sense and it looks like Skinner is out of her depth. That is by and large the reaction so far to her remarks at a security forum in Washington in late April, reflecting the “She is wrong but what if she proves right” kind of sentiment. 

Korea Times

How does someone working at the State Department forget about Imperial Japan during World War II? You can make an argument that the U.S. fighting the communist North Koreans and the Chinese during the Korean War was a clash of civilizations.

It is just troubling that this is one of the senior people making policy in the State Department.

This is pretty predictable, since the Trump administration is hammering the Chinese economy with tariffs, President Xi is now trying to use his North Korea card for leverage. I guess we will see if the Trump administration falls for his snake oil or not:

 On the eve of his first visit to North Korea, Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed Wednesday to play a greater role in helping make progress in negotiations on Korean Peninsula issues and addressing Pyongyang’s “reasonable” demands through dialogue.

Xi made the pledge in an op-ed piece to the Rodong Sinmun, North Korea’s official newspaper, in a rare move seen as part of efforts to emphasize their friendly and close bilateral relations, a day before he visits Pyongyang for the first time since assuming office in 2013.

“We will actively contribute to regional peace, stability, development and prosperity by strengthening communication and coordination with North Korea and other relevant parties to make progress in talks and negotiations on Korean Peninsula issues,” Xi said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

As it turns out Emperor President Xi will not visit South Korea on this way to Japan for the G20 summit:

Chinese President Xi Jinping won’t visit South Korea on the occasion of the upcoming G-20 summit in Japan, a government official here said Friday.
“President Xi is not coming to South Korea” just before or after his trip to Osaka for the June 28-29 G-20 session, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The confirmation came amid multiple news reports here that Xi is expected to travel to South Korea on his way to Osaka or after travelling there.
A Cheong Wa Dae official indicated that President Moon Jae-in instead has a plan to sit down with Xi on the sidelines of the G-20.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

If there should be massive protests against any world leader visiting South Korea, President Xi should be it. China is the country that most recently invaded and destroyed the country, not the Japanese and China continues to be the lifeline that supports North Korea, a country that is committed to the destruction of the ROK:

Chinese President Xi Jinping is rumored to be visiting Seoul this month for a summit with President Moon Jae-in. 

The JoongAng Ilbo, citing an unnamed diplomatic source, reported Thursday that Xi will visit Seoul to meet Moon before going to Osaka, Japan, in late June to participate in the G20 meeting, scheduled for two days from June 28.

Cheong Wa Dae and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said “nothing has been decided” on Xi’s possible trip to Seoul. They did however, say Seoul and Beijing have been working closely to realize his visit. 

“The Chinese government is known to be preparing a schedule for Xi’s visit to South Korea on the last week of this month before he participates in the G20 summit,” the newspaper quoted an unnamed diplomatic source as saying.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but another reason Koreans should be protesting Xi is that China continues to be the home of a modern day comfort women industry and yet the South Korean left will only protest Imperial Japanese comfort women polices from 75 years ago.

You throw in the Chinese fishing boats encroaching on ROK territory and murdering ROK Coast Guard personnel and the Chinese government sponsored assault on Korean citizens in Seoul ten years ago, there are plenty of reasons that Koreans should be unhappy with President Xi.

However, it is likely little if any protests will occur because China is a hard target to protest against because they will retaliate compared to the easy target that is Japan.

It will be interesting to see if Canada decides to give in to Chinese intimidation and threats:

China warned Canada that it needs to be aware of the consequences of aiding the U.S. in an extradition case involving Chinese tech giant Huawei that is believed to have sparked the detentions of two Canadians in China.
Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang’s comments came after Vice President Mike Pence and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.
Both were arrested on Dec. 10 after Canada detained a Huawei executive wanted by the U.S. on fraud charges. While China has denied they were taken in retaliation, it has implied repeatedly that there is a strong connection between the cases.

Associated Press

You can read more at the link.