It will be interesting to see if Canada gives into the thug like threats being directed at them by China. We saw these same type of threats thrown at South Korea when they did not give in over China’s demands to not deploy the THAAD battery. China responded by stopping tour groups from going to South Korea and putting unofficial sanctions on Korean companies. They will likely do the same to Canada to try and bully them to release Meng:
Meng Wanzhou, Executive Board Director of the Chinese technology giant Huawei,
China warned Canada on Saturday that there would be severe consequences if it did not immediately release Huawei Technologies Co Ltd’s [HWT.UL] chief financial officer, calling the case “extremely nasty”. Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s global chief financial officer, was arrested in Canada on Dec. 1 and faces extradition to the United States, which alleges that she covered up her company’s links to a firm that tried to sell equipment to Iran despite sanctions. The executive is the daughter of the founder of Huawei. If extradited to the United States, Meng would face charges of conspiracy to defraud multiple financial institutions, a Canadian court heard on Friday, with a maximum sentence of 30 years for each charge. No decision was reached at the extradition hearing after nearly six hours of arguments and counter-arguments, and the hearing was adjourned until Monday. In a short statement, China’s Foreign Ministry said that Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng had issued the warning to release Meng to Canada’s ambassador in Beijing, summoning him to lodge a “strong protest”.
It looks like the gloves are finally beginning to come off in regards to dealing with China’s espionage:
Influential state media linked to China’s ruling Communist Party on Friday described Washington as a “despicable rogue” attempting to “stifle” China’s global rise by arranging for the arrest of a top executive at one of its major technology firms.Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies – China’s largest telecommunications equipment maker – was arrested in Vancouver on Dec. 1 as she changed planes. Canada’s Justice Department said Meng, 46, who is the daughter of the company’s founder, was detained due to an extradition request by the United States.
It provided no reason for why Meng was taken into custody but Canadian media reported she was arrested on suspicion of evading U.S. sanctions by selling American-made components to Iran. Several U.S. senators also made that connection. “There is ample evidence to suggest that no major Chinese company is independent of the Chinese government and Communist Party – and Huawei, which China’s government and military tout as a ‘national champion,’ is no exception,” said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., in a statement. Warner said Huawei “poses a threat to our national security.” [USA Today]
You can read more at the link, but the evading of sanctions may be the legal reason for her detainment, but I think the real reason so many countries in the west are mobilizing against China on this issue is because of the spy chips Huawei and other Chinese companies were allowing to be installed in their products. Considering how may electronics parts come out of China major corporations and national leaders around the world have to wonder how much has China spied on them because of these chips?
With all that is going on I would recommend that no one travel to China because you know they are going to retaliate in some way and the most obvious way would be to arrest some Americans, especially a notable business leader for made up charges.
It is pretty clear that China does not recognize South Korea’s ADIZ:
A Chinese spy plane entered Korea’s air defense identification zone (Kadiz) without notice three times on Monday, but Beijing didn’t respond to Seoul’s requests for an explanation over their military hotline.
The Chinese military plane first entered the Kadiz northwest of Jeju Island at around 11 a.m., according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The plane initially flew out of the Kadiz about 40 minutes later toward Ieodo, an underwater reef controlled by Korea in waters that both Seoul and Beijing claim, and briefly entered Japan’s air defense identification zone (Jadiz).
The Chinese military plane appeared to be a Shaanxi Y-9JB electronic warfare and surveillance aircraft. (……)
Chinese military planes entered the Kadiz without notice 110 times between January and September of this year, according to data submitted by the Air Force to the National Assembly’s Defense Committee on Tuesday. This includes both cases of prolonged flight time within the Kadiz and brief entries. The number of entries increased 11 times over last year, when Chinese aircraft entered the Kadiz without notice 10 times. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but if Seoul wants to send Beijing a strong message about their displeasure over this, then they should join the US in freedom of navigation patrols in the South China Sea against Beijing claims to the entire body of water.
However, Seoul will likely not be sending any strong messages to China because taking on Beijing has consequences, so strongly worded protests that Beijing will just shrug at appears to be all that will done. Besides South Korea would rather spend its diplomatic energy finding another way to bash the Japanese which has no consequences.
It looks like the the Chinese are trying to find a way to blacklist certain citizens:
China’s plan to judge each of its 1.3 billion people based on their social behavior is moving a step closer to reality, with Beijing set to adopt a lifelong points program by 2021 that assigns personalized ratings for each resident.
The capital city will pool data from several departments to reward and punish some 22 million citizens based on their actions and reputations by the end of 2020, according to a plan posted on the Beijing municipal government’s website on Monday. Those with better so-called social credit will get “green channel” benefits while those who violate laws will find life more difficult.
The Beijing project will improve blacklist systems so that those deemed untrustworthy will be “unable to move even a single step,” according to the government’s plan. Xinhua reported on the proposal Tuesday, while the report posted on the municipal government’s website is dated July 18. [Bloomberg]
You can read more at the link, but for those that have served in the US Army they are familiar with Officer Record Briefs (ORB) and Enlisted Record Briefs (ERB). These documents record a Soldiers schools, promotions, awards, deployments, etc. so someone can have a one sheet snapshot of that person. Unlike an ERB and ORB it appears the Chinese are trying to take this a step further by awarding points for what is recorded on each of their citizens.
I am sure that anyone that disagrees with the government on anything will soon find their points drastically reduced denying them benefits.
It is amazing how the fine dust particles from China has now become a year around problem for South Korea:
Fine dust blankets central Seoul in this photo taken Monday morning. (Yonhap)
Anti-pollution masks are strongly advised as fine dust levels across the country are expected to hit “bad” levels Monday, induced by industrial particles blown from China’s east coast.
The National Institute of Environmental Research said the capital area of the peninsula, northeastern province of Gangwon, central province of Chungcheong, southwestern province of Jeolla, southeastern province of Gyeongsang will all suffer “bad” levels of PM 2.5 dust, which range at around 35 micrograms of fine dust particles per cubic meter. [Korea Herald]
This report shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that regularly reads the ROK Drop:
China isn’t as committed to North Korea’s denuclearization as Washington or Seoul and aims to weaken the South Korea-U.S. alliance, according to an annual report on the U.S.-China economic and security relationship submitted to the U.S. Congress on Wednesday.
Beijing also appears to have already relaxed its enforcement of sanctions on North Korea, “undermining the U.S. ‘maximum pressure’ campaign,” according to the extensive report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
The report, which also outlined China’s North Korea strategy, stressed that the “timeline for cutting sanctions is perhaps the most prominent process issue.” It added that “harmonizing the timeline and sequencing for implementing a comprehensive agreement” will be a priority for negotiators.
U.S. officials prefer “speedy steps toward ending North Korea’s nuclear and long-range missile programs, with the bulk of actions from Pyongyang coming up front before sanctions relief” and have some “potential for flexibility,” according to the report. In turn, China has pushed for a “phased and synchronous” approach, with reciprocal actions from each side. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but what this report has wrong is that I believe it is arguable whether South Korea is committed to North Korea’s denuclearization as well. The fact that the Moon administration has been pushing for the dropping of sanctions for little to nothing in return from North Korea is evidence of this.
China’s decision to put an estimated 1 million Muslims in internment camps is this year’s biggest religion story, in my opinion. https://t.co/30ZfUD9aG1
It is amazing to me that something so insecure was used to communicate with spies in Iran and China. The US military gets non-stop information security training about using commercial websites and social media and here is American intelligence agencies operating an entire spy network on one:
Dozens of American spies were killed in Iran and China after a flawed communications service that allowed foreign foes to see what the agents were up to using Google, official sources have claimed.
Between 2009 and 2013 the US Central Intelligence Agency suffered a “catastrophic” secret communications failure in a website used by officers and their field agents around the world to speak to each other, according to a report in Yahoo News, which heard from 11 former intelligence and government officials about the previously unreported disaster.
“We’re still dealing with the fallout,” said one former national security official. “Dozens of people around the world were killed because of this.”
The internet-based communications platform was first used in the Middle East to communicate with soldiers in war zones and had not been intended for widespread use but due to its ease of use and efficacy, it was adopted by agents despite its lack of sophistication, the sources claimed.
Cracks only began to show when Iran, angered that the government under Barack Obama had discovered a secret Iranian nuclear weapon factory, went out with a fine tooth comb to find moles.
It discovered the existence of one of the websites used by US agents using Google. US officials believe that Iranian spies were able to use Google as a search tool to find secret CIA websites, unbeknown to those using them.
By 2011, Iran had infiltrated the CIA spy network and in May it announced that they had broken up a 30-strong ring of American spies.
Some informants were executed and others imprisoned as a result, the sources claimed.
This was corroborated by a report on ABC news at the time, which referred to a compromised communications system after a tip off from the CIA.
Meanwhile in China 30 agents working for the US were executed by the government after compromising the spy network using a similar means. Beijing had managed to break into a second temporary communications system, splintered from the initial platform and were able to see every single agent the CIA had placed in the country, the sources told Yahoo. [The Telegraph]
You can read more at the link, but you would think this would be bigger news with hearings and people being held accountable. I will let my readers draw their own conclusions on why this is not bigger news.
China violated Korea Air Defense ID zone (#KADIZ) w fighters in the article, but also reconnaissance aircraft. 2017: 10 times. 2018 thus far: 110 times.https://t.co/FaywAKFGB7
