It sounds like Duterte may be trying to bring his country more closely into the orbits of Russia and China in a bid to keep control over their contested South China Sea islands:
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday he won’t allow government forces to conduct joint patrols of disputed waters near the South China Sea with foreign powers, apparently scrapping a deal his predecessor reached with the U.S. military earlier this year.
Duterte also said he was considering acquiring defense equipment from Russia and China. The Philippines has traditionally leaned on the U.S., its longtime treaty ally, and other Western allies for its security needs.
The remarks were the latest from a Philippine president who has had an uneasy relationship with the U.S. but also has tried to mend relations with China strained over South China Sea disputes.
Duterte said he wanted only Philippine territorial waters, up to 12 nautical miles offshore, to be patrolled by Filipino forces, but not other offshore areas that are contested. He added he opposes Filipino forces accompanying foreign powers like the U.S. and China in joint patrols which could entangle the Philippines in hostilities. [Associated Press]
This is a pretty bad attack considering this woman has signs of bleeding in her brain:
Eight Chinese tourists on Jeju Island were arrested Saturday for allegedly attacking and injuring four Koreans, including a restaurant owner who stopped them drinking alcohol they brought from outside. / Courtesy of YouTube
Police have arrested eight Chinese tourists on Jeju Island for allegedly bashing four Koreans, including a restaurant owner.
The tourists ― six men and two women ― were arrested Saturday for allegedly assaulting and injuring the Korean restaurant owner and three others, Jeju Seobu Police Station said on Monday.
The incident happened at the restaurant in the Yeondong district of Jeju.
Police said the tourists became angry when the restaurant owner, surnamed Ahn, 53, stopped them from drinking alcohol they had brought with them. They had placed their order but then decided to leave.
The tourists allegedly attacked the owner when she asked them to pay for the food. Police said they kicked her in the stomach and attempted to attack her with a bottle of alcohol.
The tourists were also accused of beating three others in the restaurant who tried to stop them, including Ahn’s son.
Ahn is being treated in hospital after signs of bleeding into her brain. Another victim is suffering facial fractures. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but I wonder if the Chinese embassy will get involved and do everything they can to protect these thugs from being punished like they did when Chinese went on a rampage in Seoul in 2008 brutally beating Koreans in the streets.
Fortunately the article that sparked the controversy was just a Chinese style Onion click bait site which I am not going to provide a link to. However, it shows the ridiculousness of China’s recent territorial claims that people were actually taking it seriously for a while:
Even though the map and article were someone’s attempt at a little fun, there is a larger point. China’s use of maps, passports and other mapfare-style methods of pushing a narrative of rightful territorial claims whether over Taiwan or the 9 or actually 10-dash-line in the South China Sea and others areas has been part of Beijing’s toolkit for sometime now. The fact that none of us at the conference were shocked speaks volumes to the now ingrained perception of China on the international stage as a power bent on changing the status-quo—no matter what the cost. A reputation as some sort of rogue state is a tough thing in international politics to change—and it’s something Beijing should bare in mind. [National Interest]
Here is an article that provides a reminder of how difficult the life for many North Korean defectors has been before finding refuge:
Back in my home country, I was charged with trying to escape North Korea and sent to a jail where a dozen male and female, young and old prisoners were squeezed into a room no bigger than a metre square. There was only one toilet in the corner of the room and no privacy.
Like other inmates, I was treated as an enemy of the state and forced to do hard labour, clearing the hills of trees so that crops could be planted. I became so malnourished that my skin turned black and my body was skeletal. I lost big clumps of hair and felt utter despair. But the greatest pain was in my heart. I couldn’t bear being separated from my child. On days I thought about death, the thought of seeing my son again was all that kept me going.We were not allowed to wear shoes in the prison, in case we tried to run away. Slowly the skin on my feet became broken and calloused from the rough stones on the ground. My wounds became infected until finally gangrene set in. It was desperately painful, but what I didn’t realise was this would be my passport to freedom. The prison doctor told me that the United Nations had intervened to condemn the conditions in North Korea’s prisons, and he persuaded the guards that I needed rest.
Thanks to him, I was sent to a prison for children where I was to stay until I was well enough to return to finish my two-year sentence. But after two months, when I was able to walk with a limp, I begged the guards to let me leave. My father had passed away just after I left for China, and I told them I wanted to visit his grave. In a rare moment of generosity, they agreed to let me go and, the minute I was out, I headed for the Chinese border again. I had no money, and I knew the only hope of seeing my son again was to approach another trafficker on the North Korean side and tell him I wanted to be sold again into marriage. Once inside China, I managed to escape. [Yahoo News]
You can read much more at the link, but this North Korean defector went through a lot before getting to England. This article is also a reminder of the modern day comfort woman trade that the Chinese government indirectly sponsors with North Korean refuge women in China.
I think this article makes a good point that the more the Chinese government complains, the more it creates a selling point for Lockheed Martin to other potential customers about how effective the THAAD system is:
According to The Wall Street Journal, 74% of South Koreans supported the installation of the THAAD missile shield, but there is opposition primarily focussed on strained relations with China, the South’s largest economic partner.
Other opposition is coming from areas where the THAAD system will be deployed and environmentalists concerned about health hazards and other environmental impacts.
Lockheed, however, may eventually benefit from North Korea’s latest launches if the South increases the size of its order or even if it can parlay China’s fears about the system into a selling point to other customers. [24/7 Wall Street]
South Korean President Park Geun-hye (L) shakes hands with her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping prior to their summit talks in Hangzhou, eastern China, on Sept. 5, 2016. The meeting came amid strains in their relations over the planned deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, in South Korea. (Yonhap)
For anyone that owns Lotte Group stock, now may be the time to start dumping it:
Lotte Group has been dragged into the controversy over where Korea deploys the controversial U.S. anti-missile battery, after its golf course in Seongju County, North Gyeongsang Province, emerged as the most probable alternative site.
Korea’s fifth-largest family-controlled conglomerate fears its duty free stores, hotels and other businesses that cater to Chinese visitors will be adversely affected if the government decides to install a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery at the Lotte Skyhill Country Club (CC), north of downtown Seongju. Lotte officials are also worried that its businesses in China will suffer.
Lotte is unlikely to get fair value for the golf course because the government offers compensation based on the property’s appraisal value, which is much lower than the market price.
However, the conglomerate is not in a position to publicly oppose the possible THAAD deployment to one of its most profitable golf clubs because its Chairman, Shin Dong-bin, his family members and heads of Lotte units are under investigation on allegations of breach of trust, embezzlement and other irregularities. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but it will be interesting to see the Chinese reaction if Lotte is forced to sell the golf resort.
Via a reader tip comes this news of how the Chinese flew three aircraft into the ROK’s air defense identification zone:
South Korean forces scrambled fighter jets to escort three Chinese military planes after they entered an overlapping air defence zone. The Chinese aircraft are reported to have flown into the airspace on Thursday, 18 August near South Korea’s island of Jeju without alerting authorities in Seoul.
Beijing’s aircraft, which included a bomber, quickly left the airspace after South Korean authorities issued a warning and dispatched the fighter jets, a military source told South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. [IB Times]
You can read more at the link, but I agree with the article’s assessment that the Chinese are militarily showing their displeasure against the ROK’s decision to deploy THAAD to South Korea.
It seems that if the Chinese are coming out and threatening the Japanese with military action for moving their ships through waters that an International Court has said is not Chinese; this almost forces the Japanese to sail through them to force the point that these are international waters and that they will not be intimidated:
Satellite images of South China Sea taken show China’s construction of aircraft hangars on the disputed Spratly islands
Beijing is thought to have threatened Japan that it would launch military action if Tokyo pressed ahead with its stance on the South China Sea dispute. Chinese officials are reported to have conveyed the warning to a top-ranking Japanese official in June.
According to diplomatic sources, cited by Japan’s Kyodo news agency, China’s ambassador to Japan, Cheng Yonghua, told Japan that it would cross a “red line” if Japanese vessels took part in the so-called freedom of navigation operations launched by the US in the South China Sea. Cheng even went on to indicate that Beijing would not hesitate to take military action. This emerged only on Sunday, 21 August though the incident reportedly occurred in June. [IB Times]
