Geo-Strategic Trend - 134. page

Deutsche Welle Chinese recently reported that a German newspaper, the South German Newspaper (Süddeutsche Zeitung) decided to stop publishing the supplement called China Watch, which China Daily provided. The South German Newspaper, published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany. China Daily is the Chinese government’s official newspaper designed for readers outside of China. In recent years, many Western newspapers have periodically published China Watch as a supplement, including such famous newspapers as the Washington Post, New York Times, British Daily Telegraph, French Le Figaro and Business Daily in Germany. Although the South German Newspaper refused to comment on the reason for discontinuing publication of the supplement, its choice did receive a lot of praise from political observers and human rights organizations. As part of China’s strategy of broadening China’s influence on public opinion in the West, China Watch took the approach of utilizing the channels available through traditional Western media.

Source: DW Chinese, May 19, 2018
https://bit.ly/2savh8d

Duowei News reported that, on May 22, the Guardian reported that Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop raised objections to China’s military activity in the South China Sea during the G20. On May 22, Huanqiu published an opinion article which stated “It’s about time to let Australia pay the price.” According to the article, last year Australia and China’s relationship hit rock bottom. Australian officials have constantly complained to the media about China’s infiltration and interference in Australia. All the negative media coverage not only hurt the relationship of these two countries but also damaged the living environment of the overseas Chinese living in Australia. The article went on to state, “It is about time to show China’s position and make Australia pay the necessary price for its past attitude toward China.” The article further stated that in order to teach Australia a lesson, China could substitute other trade imports for certain imports from Australia, such as wine and beef. If China could reduce its imports by US$10 billion from total imports of US$76.4 billion, it would shock the Australians. The article went on, “We need to teach them a lesson. Also we can let the outside world understand that it is not a good thing for them to pick a fight with China.”

Sources:
1. Huanqiu, May 22, 2018
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2018-05/12076890.html
2. Duowei News, May 22, 2018
http://news.dwnews.com/global/news/2018-05-22/60059706.html

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