Tag: China

This is a bit surprising to see considering how China was disinvited to the last RIMPAC exercise. However, this is a disaster relief exercise which the U.S. military is signaling should be something everyone is involved in:

 An opening ceremony will be held Monday on Hawaii island for a military exercise with China that will involve about 100 People’s Liberation Army soldiers training alongside U.S. Army counterparts.

That comes after Adm. Phil Davidson, head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, spoke on Veterans Day at Punchbowl cemetery about the “rules-based international order” that followed U.S. victory in the Pacific in World War II, and China’s attempts to usurp it.

Those American standards “are even more important today,” Davidson said, “as malicious actors like the Communist Party of China seek to redefine the international order through corruption, malign cyber activities, intellectual property theft, restriction of individual liberties, military coercion and the direct attempts to override other nations’ sovereignty.”

China was invited into the prestigious Rim of the Pacific maritime exercises in Hawaii in 2014 and 2016 — the drills are held every two years — but it wasn’t allowed to participate in 2018.

China sent a spy ship to monitor the event anyway in 2018. The rising Asian power is not likely to take part in the summer 2020 RIMPAC, either.

“China has not been involved in the planning process,” which is nearing its midpoint, said Cmdr. John Fage, a spokesman for the Navy’s 3rd Fleet in San Diego, which plans the exercise.

In recent years, the U.S. government has been more strident than ever in condemning China as a revisionist power and has taken steps to interdict Chinese espionage and influence. A bitter trade war has added to the tension.

So it makes the dwindling military-to-military exercises such as the “disaster management exchange” planned through Nov. 26 on the Big Island stand out that much more as the exception to the growing rule.

U.S. Army Pacific said the exchange with the People’s Liberation Army is part of its “Pacific Resilience” program, a series of exercises that ensures the U.S. “is prepared to assist our global partners in the event of a major disaster.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

I am sure these Chinese students realize they can beat down Koreans with no consequences like we saw during the Olympic Torch protests back in 2008. Back in 2008 the Chinese Embassy in Seoul actually directed the protests which makes me wonder if they are encouraging the behavior of these Chinese students as well?:

Tensions are escalating on university campuses here between Korean students supporting the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and Chinese students studying here who oppose them, citing Beijing’s “One China” doctrine.

There is concerns that the conflict could lead to emotional responses by both sides, with some students seriously worrying about physical clashes. School authorities are also paying close attention to the tension as Chinese students account for the largest portion of foreign students at colleges in Korea.

On Wednesday, dozens of Korean and Chinese students at Hanyang University in Seoul scuffled over the setting up of a “Lennon wall” and posting of messages supporting the Hong Kong protests by the former.

Fifty Chinese exchange students and 10 Korean students clashed. The exchange students said the Korean students were “interfering with domestic affairs,” and the Hong Kong protests were “nothing to do with Koreans.” The Koreans refuted this, saying that they had the right to freedom of speech on the issue, according to witnesses.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but can you imagine what the reaction would be if Japanese students did something like this? There would be mass protests and hate directed towards Japan, yet once again you don’t see this happen with China.

So where are the protests, bumper stickers, and media hate for the Chinese trade restrictions? This is just another example of the double standard applied by Koreans when it comes to China and Japan:

The government is facing growing calls to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over China’s refusal to permit Korean game companies to sell their products there, according to industry officials and politicians. 

Rep. Cho Kyoung-tae of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party urged Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Yang-woo to pursue more active measures to resolve the matter that has lasted for more than two years, resulting in worsening profits for the nation’s game industry. 

“The Chinese government resumed issuing service permits for foreign titles in March this year, but no Korean games were included in the list,” the four-term lawmaker said during the National Assembly’s audit of government agencies, Monday. “This is obvious discrimination against Korean games. The culture ministry needs to take the issue to the WTO.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

People in #HongKong have directly called on Americans to act. From President #Trump to the rest of us, we must now do all we can for those on freedom's front line. https://t.co/V07cXiD6nP

— Gordon G. Chang (@GordonGChang) September 8, 2019

Here is the latest on Japan’s other island dispute:

Japan plans to bolster defenses around its disputed southern island chain by creating a specialized police force that will respond to any incursions in the East China Sea.

The news was first reported Monday by Japan public broadcaster NHK, which cited police sources. The Okinawa-based law enforcement unit will be trained in border security tactics and deployed in the next Japanese fiscal year, which begins in April.

The move marks the first time Japanese police will be called to respond to territorial incursions near the Senkaku islands. The uninhabited, resource-rich chain between Okinawa and Taiwan are controlled by Japan but claimed by Taiwan and China, which refers to them as Diaoyu. (…….)

“The National Police Agency believes that there should be some police expertise to respond to [incursions] and they decided to place a unit in Okinawa,” the report said. “The [unit’s] members will be carrying sub-machine guns and are highly trained in case the trespassers are armed.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Many complain about Prez #Trump‘s tactics in the #trade war. Let’s remember #China started undermining the US economy decades ago and is driving events now. Trump is merely reacting to Beijing’s increasingly malicious attacks on us. Let’s remember who the villain is here.

— Gordon G. Chang (@GordonGChang) August 25, 2019

If true this would help explain why North Korea so easily blew off a food aid offer from South Korea this summer:

North Korea is accepting 800,000 tons of rice from China to help feed its people after turning down a smaller aid package from South Korea last month, according to a Japanese news report on Tuesday. 

Citing a South Korean official and a trader on the border between China and North Korea, a report from the Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun said China was preparing to ship 800,000 tons of rice to North Korea through maritime channels, probably in addition to other foodstuffs like corn that would make the total size of the aid around one million tons. 

Beijing’s decision to provide food assistance to the North was made after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pyongyang in June, the report said, although no formal announcement has been made about it. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

As mainland Chinese students and Hong Kong students protest and face off on university campuses around the world, it’s important to remember that mainland students are exercising a right they don’t actually possess back home. And most (none?) of them seem to recognize that irony.

— Melissa Chan (@melissakchan) August 17, 2019

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.