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People’s Daily: China’s and Russia’s Militaries Join Forces to Oppose U.S. Deployment of “THAAD” in South Korea

At an October 11 China and Russia joint briefing on the anti-missile issue, the military representatives of both countries agreed that the United States unilaterally developing a multi-level missile defense plan would undermine the global strategic balance and regional security and stability. Both countries agreed to deepen anti-missile cooperation.

Military expert Meng Xiangqing pointed out that China and Russia have repeatedly issued joint statements on the issue of the United States’ deployment of anti-missile systems. However, this is the first time that both countries held a joint briefing to show their stance. Meng Xiangqing believes that this briefing releases three signals: First, it shows that China and Russia’s position in opposing the U.S. deployment of the “THAAD” anti-missile system in South Korea is consistent. Second, it is an opportunity to urge the United States and South Korea, in a strong statement, to change their decision. At the same time it is to warn the international community and urge the international community to pay more attention to the damage and instability that “THAAD” has brought to the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia. Third, both countries issued contents about further cooperation in opposing the “THAAD” anti-missile system, including that the two armed forces will conduct a second anti-missile exercise in 2017.

Source: People’s Daily, October 14, 2016
http://military.people.com.cn/n1/2016/1014/c1011-28777828.html

Why Kim Jong-un is not Afraid of China’s Sanctions

Well-known Chinese online military news site Folk Military recently posted a commentary analyzing why North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong-un is not worried about China’s sanctions under the UN resolution. The Chinese government sponsors Folk Military. This commentary is the first government-backed article that has publicly criticized Kim Jong-un and has not been removed based on government censorship. The author expressed the belief that Kim is still overwhelmed by the false impression of domestic political control established over generations of dictatorship. Furthermore, China has largely provided life support for North Korea and the Chinese supply hasn’t really been cut. However, the article warned that the current attitude Kim is displaying against China is endangering his support from China and the Chinese leadership. Chinese President Xi Jinping especially may not be willing to give him too much time to wake up.

Source: Folk Military, September 24, 2016
http://www.folkw.cn/a/20160924/4177.html

Global Times: South Korean Experts Suggested Restrictions for the Jeju Visa-Free System

Global Times recently reported that South Korean experts have suggested adding a Chinese Visitor Quota restriction to the current Jeju Visa-Free system. Jeju is a South Korean island that established a 30-day visa-free policy allowing the entry of people from a vast majority of the countries in the world. The policy has brought a large number of visitors to the island since 2002. Around 99 percent of the visitors are from China. However, in recent years, the crime rate involving Chinese visitors has suffered a rapid increase. At the same time, cases of illegally staying beyond the permitted period have increased as well. More and more people around South Korea are calling for placing restrictions on the visa-free policy. In addition to the quota restriction, the Jeju government has also planned to introduce tougher identity checks as well as the requirement, in some cases, of having local residents be escorts.

Source: Global Times, September 27, 2016
http://world.huanqiu.com/exclusive/2016-09/9490586.html

RFA: Communist China Started to Give North Korea Nuclear Materials When Jiang Zemin Became the CCP General Secretary in 1989 after the “June 4th Tiananmen Square Massacre”

On September 27, 2016, Radio Free Asia published a special commentator’s article which exposed Communist China’s role in North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons. China started to support North Korea with nuclear materials after the “June 4th Tiananmen Square Massacre” in 1989 when Jiang Zemin became the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.

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China Investigates North Korea Kwangson Banking and China Dandong Hongxiang Group for Supporting North Korea’s Nuclear Program

On September 26, 2016, Hong Kong Economic Journal and Radio Taiwan International published a news report based on South Korean Central Daily (JoongAng Daily) saying that China is investigating both North Korea Kwangson Banking Corp (KKBC) and Dandong Hongxiang Industrial Development Co. (DHID) for supporting North Korea’s nuclear program.

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China has Four Counter Measures for the Joint Japan-U.S. South China Sea Patrol

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently published an in-depth analysis on the strategy against the newly announced Japanese plan to join the U.S. South China Sea naval patrol. The Chinese central command had long expressed the position that China wouldn’t just not take any action on the U.S led “joint patrol.” The article suggested four immediate actions that China can take. First, China can quickly militarize the islands in the region. Second, if the “joint patrol” becomes intensified, China can announce the establishment of the South China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone. The third approach is to focus on Japanese vessels by flying aircraft over them at low altitude. The last mechanism is to mount higher pressure on Japan by increasing the frequency of law enforcement patrols near the Diaoyu Islands. The article called the strategy the new “protracted war,” which was the strategy China applied to win against Japan in the Second World War.

Source: Sina, September 19, 2016
http://mil.news.sina.com.cn/jssd/2016-09-19/doc-ifxvyqwa3452496.shtml

Xinhua: North Korea Called for International Help on Post-Flood Rebuild Effort

Xinhua recently reported that the North Korean Foreign Ministry held a meeting with diplomatic delegations to North Korea to brief them on the severe damage that the flood in North Hamgyong Province had caused. North Korea asked the countries with whom it had “long-term friendly and cooperative relations” to help rebuild the flooded region. Nine delegations from Mongolia, Vietnam, Laos, and others attended the meeting and agreed to report back and recommend providing help. The recent flood caused hundreds of deaths (or those reported missing). <Editor’s note: The Xinhua report did not list all nine countries that North Korea considered “friendly and cooperative.” According to the North Korean Central News Agency, the other six countries are: Indonesia, India, Cambodia, Malaysia, Iran, and Pakistan. The devastating flood occurred a few days after North Korea’s latest nuclear bomb experiment.>

Source: Xinhua, September 15, 2016                                                                                                                                           http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2016-09/15/c_1119567841.htm

Huanqiu Editorial: Japan Should Cherish the Opportunity for Sino-Japanese Leaders to Meet

Huanqiu (Global Times) published an editorial article following the meeting between China and Japan’s top leaders, Xi Jinping and Shinzo Abe, at the G20 Summit in Hangzhou. The editorial criticized Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe quite harshly.

The article said, “Since Abe began serving as prime minister more than three years ago, the Sino-Japanese relationship has “completely cooled down.” The bilateral relations have not been able to improve. The fundamental reason lies in the lack of genuine sincerity on the Japanese side, often saying one thing and doing another. Confrontation with China has almost become the full principle of Japan’s diplomacy. Anything that China supports, Japan will oppose. Many Chinese people have developed this impression. Chinese public opinion has thus gradually lost confidence and interest in improving Sino-Japanese relations.”

“At the press conference held on the evening of September 5, Abe talked lavishly about the South China Sea. In Hangzhou, he was probably the only one of the 20 leaders to talk so much in public about the South China Sea.

“Chinese people’s attitude toward Abe is that they will probably only “listen to his words and observe his deeds.” Abe seems to have a lot of ideas about China. He may also have a number of contradictory feelings about the United States, but he dares not release them to the United States. He has probably moved those attitudes toward China to a certain extent. While, on the one hand, he seems really eager to reduce Sino-Japanese tensions; on the one hand, he is deliberately confrontational with China.

“For example, Japan often jumps even higher than the United States over the South China Sea issue; it is even more radical than the Philippines and Vietnam. Even though the South China Sea is an important trade route for Japan, this does not make sense. The South China Sea is also important to Korea. Japan seems to feel secure only if the U.S.-Japan joint military has full control of the South China Sea.

“The Japan-U.S. alliance is one of the biggest security challenges for China. Tokyo has tried very hard to expand its influence on this factor. It gives no consideration to the negative feelings it bears toward China. Tokyo also advocated the separation of the political and the economic, meaning that China should accept its willful acts on the political and security aspects while ensuring its economic interests without any damage.

“China and Japan have jointly defined a ‘strategic and mutually beneficial relationship.’ Japan now seems to express this concept just verbally, but really seems not to have any thoughts about the ‘strategic and mutually beneficial’ relationship with China. It adjusted its relations with China to have trade and economic and cultural exchanges on policies, but strategically plays a zero-sum game against China.

“According to Japan’s Kyodo News, the Japanese government stakeholders involved in designing the strategy toward China have expressed that ‘in today’s Japan-China relations, it is a pass if conflict can be avoided.’ A lot of Chinese scholars also have the same concern and are indeed not optimistic about the Sino-Japanese relationship.

“A Meeting of Heads of State usually plays an important role in resolving conflicts and expanding mutual goodwill. Abe always asks to meet Chinese leaders. I hope he cherishes every such meeting. If it is caught in the vicious circle of ‘the worse it is, the more talk, and the more talk the worse,’ then Beijing may not have time to accompany Tokyo to play.”

Source: Huanqiu, September 6, 2016
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2016-09/9404681.html