Geo-Strategic Trend - 134. page

On April 27, China’s state media, the Global Times published an editorial entitled, “The Korean Summit Achieved Progress; the United States Should Follow the Trend.” The article stated that the Kim-Moon Jae-in meeting wrote about the goal of denuclearization and in “the Panmunjom Declaration,” was striving for an end to the (Korean) war.  However, all the writings were visions; they were not exact plans. The fundamental reason is that these issues ultimately require the United States to come out and talk directly with North Korea. South Korea can only convey its willingness. Its bargaining power is limited.

One cannot help but say that South Korea has played an important role in breaking the deadlock on the peninsula and ushering in today’s negotiations. The situation in the past few months has proved that Seoul will take the initiative to guide the situation as long as it can create and fight for the opportunity. It used to be too obedient to Washington. In the future, Seoul should be more courageous in upholding (and acting on) its own opinions.

For example, President Trump said more than once that he may meet Kim Jong-un or he may not. However, whether Trump will meet Kim Jong-un should not merely be a unilateral decision of the White House. The Blue House (Cheong Wa Dae) should have the right to participate fully in forming opinions. Because what the United States will do is closely related to the interests of South Korea, Seoul is not an outsider, no matter whether Kim and Trump will meet and how they will meet.

Source: Global Times, April 27, 2018
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2018-04/11933839.html

According to an article that Deutsche Welle published, President Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran Nuclear Deal on May 8. Two days later, China sent a freight train carrying 1,150 tons of sunflower seeds heading to Tehran, the capital of Iran. The article commented that it is hard not to conclude that the timing of the shipment was a signal that China and Iran sent to challenge the decision that the Trump administration made. The article stated that China entered into a trade agreement with Iran two years ago with a trade target to grow to US$600 billion over the next ten years. For China, Iran is a major component of its “One Belt One Road” project in opening up the middle Europe and China – Africa economic corridor. Meanwhile China buys 1/3 of its oil from Iran and is the largest oil buyer for Iran. In the first quarter of 2018, China’s imports from Iran averaged 658,000 barrels of oil each day, up 17.3 percent from the same period in 2017. The article also mentioned that the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that China opposes the U.S. decision to withdraw from the Iran Nuclear Deal.

Source: Deutsche Welle, May 11, 2018
http://www.dw.com/zh/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E7%81%AB%E8%BD%A6%E5%BC%80%E5%BE%80%E4%BC%8A%E6%9C%97-%E5%8F%AB%E6%9D%BF%E5%8D%8E%E7%9B%9B%E9%A1%BF/a-43737441?&zhongwen=simp

Before his visit to Japan, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang published an article with his byline in a Japanese mainstream media. The article was titled, “Let the Sino-Japanese Peace, Friendship and Cooperation Restart.” The article started with mentioning the short distance between China and Japan. Li said he regretted that it took a long time to push the development of a better relationship. As the second and the third largest economies in the world, it will truly benefit Asia and even the world if the two nations have a healthy relationship. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Sino-Japanese Peace and Friendship Treaty. Given the global challenges and the regional situation changes, cooperation among China, Japan and Korea will benefit the regional integration process of establishing the East Asian Economic Community. China is committed to peace and openness, which are required to ensure sustained economic growth. The economic complementarity between China and Japan is very strong. Li expected that his visit would witness the signing of a series of mutual economic cooperation agreements, as well as a local currency swap agreement. China will announce the grant of Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (RQFII) status to Japanese investors. Li also called for exchanges in culture, tourism and youth activities.

Source: Official Website of Chinese Central Government, May 8, 2018
http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2018-05/08/content_5289035.htm

Duowei News published an article that stated that Beijing’s suppression of Taiwan is inevitable and that the Tsai Ing-wen administration’s incompetence in handling its domestic affairs will cause it to get into more trouble. The article was referring to the Dominican Republic’s May 1 cutting its ties with Taiwan and its establishment of diplomatic relations with Beijing. This is the third country that has discontinued its foreign relations with Taiwan since Tsai took office. The article stated that it is good news that the number of countries that recognize Taiwan is down from 20 to 19. It claimed that, for Beijing, the two sides of the Strait are still in a state of civil war. The competition between the two sides in the international arena has always been a dispute of who represents China and it is a reasonable and inevitable choice for China to suppress Taiwan. The article further attacked the Tsai administration for its inability to deal with domestic disagreements and the lack of unity among the parties. It reminded Tsai that her administration should focus more on domestic affairs and unity rather than on playing politics.

Source: Duowei, May 1, 2018
http://news.dwnews.com/taiwan/news/2018-05-01/60055249.html

Deutsche Welle Chinese recently reported that German Federal Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy, Peter Altmaier, said not long ago in Berlin that, since more and more Chinese investors have shown an interest in acquiring German companies, the government has been considering tightening up its foreign investment policies. Traditionally, the government would only interfere with a foreign acquisition when the deal was above 25 percent of the total market value of the company. The German government is now considering lowering the veto threshold to 10 percent. In the past, the German government typically stepped in when public security was at risk. Now, more and more consideration is given to the strategic position of the company, as well as whether the buyer is from a European Union member country or not. It is notable that Minister Altmaier picked up on this topic right before German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to the United States.

Source: Deutsche Welle Chinese, April 27, 2018
https://bit.ly/2FpROlk