Geo-Strategic Trend – Page 177

Xinhua: ICBC Madrid Branch Searched for Suspected Money Laundering

Xinhua reported on February 18 that Spain’s National Guard and the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office searched the Madrid Branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). Five of the ICBC branch managers were detained. The Spanish police expressed its belief that the ICBC branch was involved in money laundering activities worth at least 40 million euros. One of the Spanish investigators thought that the ICBC branch has a full-blown criminal network. The search is the result of a case involving Chinese smuggling gangs that the government investigated last year. ICBC is the largest commercial bank in China and the Madrid branch is its first branch in Spain. The Chinese Embassy in Spain said that there had been no official communication from the Spanish government regarding the search. The Embassy found out about it through the public media.

Source: Xinhua, February 18, 2016

http://news.xinhuanet.com/finance/2016-02/18/c_128729569.htm

Briefings | | February 23, 2016 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Global Times: How to Deal with the North Korea Issue

"There have been many recent developments in the Korean Peninsula. North Korea exploded a hydrogen bomb and used a long distance missile to launch a satellite. The U.S. sent an aircraft carrier, B-52 bombers, a strategic nuclear submarine, and Special Forces to Japan and South Korea. The U.S. and South Korea also made substantial progress on planning the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system." A Global Times article commented on the North Korea situation.

The article argued that China must take action to prevent the threat of war there.

"First, [China] should mobilize the international community to convince the parties involved in the escalation to go back to the Six-Party Talks. [China] should let North Korea understand: North Korea will face a national disaster if a war starts and China will not sacrifice its own interests to save a regime that does not listen to its advice. [China] should let South Korea understand: There is no benefit to bringing in external forces to escalate the tension on Korean Peninsula and it is practically impossible to use military threats to have the South unite with the North. It is also hard to convince the U.S. and Japan. [China] should ask the ‘healthy voices’ in those two countries to convince their decision makers to move forward with dialog and then with a peace treaty."

"Second, [China] should work with Russia and other countries that are again creating tension in Northeast Asia to make sure that the U.N. Security Council will not authorize the use of force. There is no situation in which the U.N. should authorize any country to start a war in the peninsula."

"Third, [China] should prepare for a war. Even though there is a very low probably that a war will occur, [China] should be 100 percent prepared."

Source: Global Times Online, February 16, 2016
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/1152/2016-02/8543096.html

Briefings | | February 17, 2016 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Bangladesh Cancelled the Deepwater Port Development Project with China

Xinhua recently reported that Bangladesh quietly cancelled the development project of the deepwater port Resona Diaz in Cox’s Bazar. China had been planning to do the project. However, as the relationship between Bangladesh and India has shown gradual improvement, India developed an interest in building Bangladesh’s newest deepwater port Yap Hong Kong. From India’s viewpoint, the Chinese plan for Resona Diaz was just another strategic step to constrain India. The official reason for the cancellation of the Resona Diaz project was lack of commercial feasibility. However, the Japanese-funded Motor Er Bali Port is only 25 miles away. It is obvious that Japan and India cast a shadow over the cancellation of the Chinese project. The Yap Hong Kong port is located at the southwest corner of Bangladesh, which is much closer to India. This development project involves a seven-year plan. In addition to Indian companies, the Bangladesh government also invited Chinese companies to join in the construction.

Source: Xinhua, February 9, 2016

http://www.cankaoxiaoxi.com/china/20160209/1073838.shtml

Briefings | | February 15, 2016 | Geo-Strategic Trend

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mentioned the Taiwan “President”

Taiwan’s China News Agency (CNA) reported that China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs website used the term "Taiwan ‘President’" for the first time.

A news reporter asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson whether the mainland government supported the cyber-attack from mainland China on "Taiwan ‘President’" Tsai Ing-wen’s Facebook page. The Ministry spokesperson denied it.

The CNA article stated that the interesting thing was that the official transcript published on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ website used the term "Taiwan ‘President.’"

"The Mainland government has long been cautious about words related to Taiwan’s sovereignty. Taking the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as an example, it always used ‘Taiwan Leader’ or ‘Leader of the Taiwan Region’ to describe the President of the Republic of China. Even when a news reporter used ‘President’ in his question, the term ‘President’ would not appear in the official transcripts." [Editor’s note: the Republic of China is the governing authority over Taiwan. The People’s Republic of China is the governing authority over mainland China.]

As of February 9, the official transcript still had the term, "Taiwan ‘President.’"

Sources:
[1] Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, February 5, 2016
http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/web/fyrbt_673021/t1338806.shtml
[2] CNA, February 5, 2016
http://www.cna.com.tw/news/firstnews/201602050351-1.aspx

Briefings | | February 10, 2016 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Global Times: Park Geun-hye Received Happy Birthday Greetings from China

Global Times recently reported that South Korean President Park Geun-hye celebrated her 64th birthday on February 2. She received a greetings letter from Chinese President Xi Jinping. Xi hand-wrote the letter himself. The two presidents have been exchanging birthday greetings letters every year since they took power. The latest letter from Xi was shortly after the North Korean nuclear test. In the letter Xi also invited Park Geun-hye to visit China and attend the APEC leadership summit. Xi and Park developed a good relationship about ten years ago, in 2005, when Park was the South Korean opposition party leader and Xi was the Party Committee Secretary of Zhejiang Province. President Park Geun-hye also received birthday presents from her Chinese grass-roots fan club as well. The club has 23,000 members across China.

Source: Global Times, February 2, 2016

http://world.huanqiu.com/exclusive/2016-02/8487834.html

Briefings | | February 9, 2016 | Geo-Strategic Trend

China Signed 17 Agreements with Iran

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that, during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Iran, China signed 17 agreements with Iran. The agreements covered energy, finance, telecommunications, and other fields, including peaceful use of nuclear energy. China is currently Iran’s largest trade partner with an annual trade volume of US$50 billion. In the newly signed agreements, the two countries agreed to target US$600 billion in the next ten years. The two countries also signed a joint statement on establishing a 25-year “comprehensive strategic partnership.” Both Xi and Iranian President Rohani agreed to develop a tighter relationship in politics, culture, and trade. Both sides committed firmly to supporting each other on major issues concerning independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. China supports Iran in playing a more important role in regional and international matters. China also supports Iran in applying for membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

Source: Sina, January 24, 2016

http://mil.news.sina.com.cn/china/2016-01-24/doc-ifxnuvxc1838003.shtml

Briefings | | February 2, 2016 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Mingpao: Military Exercises near Taiwan Not Meant to Intimidate Tsai, the President-elect of Taiwan

On January 21, 2016, Mingpao, a pro Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chinese language newspaper headquartered in Hong Kong, published an article titled, “CCTV Broadcasted the PLA Landing Exercises in Fujian after the Taiwan Election. Military Expert: Propaganda Mainly for Internal Audience Rather Than to Intimidate Tsai.” The original article was taken down from Mingpao’s main website on the afternoon of January 27, 2016. However, the article is still available online at Mingpao Canada and on some other websites which have republished it.

Five days after Taiwan’s presidential election, China Central Television (CCTV) broadcasted the news that the 31st Group Army of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), headquartered in Xiamen, Fujian Province, conducted large scale landing exercises with live ammunition. The 31st Group Army mobilized long-range rockets, howitzers troops, amphibious tanks, and helicopter landing forces. Before 1979, the 31st Group Army, clearly defined as “reuniting China by landing onto the main island of Taiwan,” used to perform shelling of the Kinmen island group and the Matsu Islands of Taiwan. Broadcasting the 31st Group Army military exercises on CCTV, the predominant state television broadcaster in mainland China, triggered much speculation outside of China.

In response, Wu Ge, a military commentator in Mainland China said, “This is a routine exercise. In general, it is mainly used for internal propaganda to satisfy sentimental needs of some extreme nationalists.” Mr. Wu further said, “Tsai Ing-wen has not assumed (the presidency of Taiwan) and has not proposed any policies yet. What made the army so anxious? The main reason was that Xi Jinping was in a tour outside of China. Someone took the opportunity to exaggerate the propaganda. The exercise did not target the Taiwan election. The main purpose of the propaganda targeted Taiwan.”

Source: Mingpao, January 22, 2016
http://www.mingpaocanada.com/VAN/htm/News/20160122/tcaa1_r.htm
http://news.mingpao.com/pns/dailynews/web_tc/article/20160122/s00013/1453398732530
http://www.e123.hk/ElderlyPro/details/453736/72
http://stock2.pchome.com.tw/news/cat8/20160122/14534206806688009003.html
http://news.pchome.com.tw/finance/cnyes/20160122/index-14534206806688009003.html

Briefings | | January 28, 2016 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Tsai Ing-wen’s Possible TPP Strategy: Taiwan Will Go to the World without Going through China

On January 19, 2016, Ettoday, a media in Taiwan, published an article on Tsai Ing-wen’s possible TPP Strategy. Ms. Tsai is the new president-elect of the Republic of China (Taiwan). While China and Taiwan’s cross-strait trade negotiations are all temporarily on hold before Tsai takes office, some people are worried that Tsai’s government may hinder Taiwan’s economic integration with other regions.

However, one official from the National Development Council in Taiwan released the information that the United States might help Taiwan to “by-pass” China by supporting Taiwan to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP) so as to counterbalance China. The TPP is a US-led trade agreement that includes twelve Pacific Rim countries. The treaty was signed on October 5, 2015, after 7 years of negotiations in which China was absent. A Taiwanese official who did not give out his name explained, “For Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan will go to the world without going through China.”

Source: Ettoday, January 19, 2016
http://www.ettoday.net/news/20160119/633874.htm
http://travel.ettoday.net/article/633874.htm
http://一頁.com/detail/1MeOchYM