Geo-Strategic Trend - 81. page

According to the Daily UK, an online newspaper that a group of North Korean Defectors runs using news sourced from inside of North Korea, earlier this month, a senior North Korean official died after he received an injection of Chinese-made drugs. Kim Jong-un was furious about it and ordered the main hospital in Pyongyang to ban Chinese-made drugs.

According to reports, the senior official was in his 60s and held an important position in North Korea’s national economics department. He had worked in that department ever since the late Kim Jong-il was in power. He was recently treated at the Pyongyang Medical College hospital for heart disease and high blood pressure. As his health condition deteriorated, the doctor decided to inject “cocarboxylase” a drug that was made in China instead of North Korea because it was supposed to be of a higher quality. Nevertheless, the official died after he received the injection.

After Kim Jong-un learned the news, he immediately ordered Pyongyang’s main hospitals to ban Chinese-made drugs, including the Chinese COVID vaccine samples that are used in the development of the North Korea vaccine.

The real cause of death of the senior official is unclear and is still under investigation.

Source: Radio Free Asia, May 21, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/nk-kim-05212021023211.html

Amid the deterioration of relations between the 27 EU countries and China, Lithuania believes that China constitutes a “division of the 17+1 mechanism.”  The country’s Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis announced that Lithuania has decided not to attend the 17+1 summit. Landsbergis called on EU member states to respond to China in unison, and called on other member states to withdraw from this mechanism.

The 17 + 1 mechanism was a cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. It was an initiative of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to promote business and investment relations between China and the 17 CEE countries.

On Thursday, this Baltic country’s parliament formally adopted a resolution that found Beijing to be committing “genocide” and a “human holocaust” against Uighur Muslims. The Lithuanian parliament also called on the United Nations to organize a mission to Xinjiang to investigate the mass detention of Uighurs and asked the European Union to revise its relations with Beijing.

Lithuania has taken several initiatives in recent months that have infuriated Beijing including vetoing Chinese investments and opening commercial offices in Taiwan. The Chinese Foreign Ministry lodged a protest on March 4, “strongly opposing” the establishment of Lithuanian official institutions in Taiwan.

In February this year, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia took the lead in lowering the level of participation in the summit between China and CEE countries, sending in a minister instead of a president or a prime minister. Six countries followed suit.

China has attached unprecedented importance to the February 17+1 summit. President Xi Jinping personally chaired the conference, which was usually hosted by Premier Li Keqiang. Although the Chinese Foreign Ministry has also been making frequent behind-the-scenes moves to get leaders of member states to attend, this year’s summit saw the lowest level of participation ever since the mechanism was established in 2012.

Analysis suggests that the 17+1, which was seen from the beginning by the EU as a mechanism to try to divide Europe, is now losing its initial aura. The failure of the Chinese to deliver on their investment promises, as well as the disproportionate trade benefit brought to Beijing, has disappointed the host countries. The outbreak of the corona virus epidemic has impaired China’s image even worse. Beijing’s recent counter-sanctions against the EU over the Uighur human rights issue have caused unprecedented damage to bilateral relations. The European Parliament’s recent decision to freeze the “EU-China Comprehensive Investment Agreement” is another example of the apparent deterioration of bilateral relations.

Source: Radio France International, May 23, 2021
https://rfi.my/7QAU.T

Beijing plans to rebuild an airport based on an abandoned U.S. military airfield runway and a bridge on Kanton Island, in the Republic of Kiribati. The move shows China’s ambition to further its foothold in the Pacific Ocean.

The island nation of Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean has a population of 120,000 but has one of the largest exclusive economic zones in the world, covering an area of more than 3.5 million square kilometers of waters. Kanton Island is midway between Hawaii and Australia and 3,000 kilometers southwest of the U.S. military base in Hawaii. Any major infrastructure on the island would provide China with a stronghold deep into the region where the United States has maintained strong ties with and its allies since World War II.

Kanton has been a nature reserve since 2006. China plans to build a 2-kilometer long airstrip. During the World War II, the U.S. military used the island as part of an air ferry route between Hawaii and the South Pacific region. After the war, commercial airlines used the island as a trans-Pacific stopover for refueling.

Until the late 1960s, the U.S. had used the island for space and missile tracking; today, Kanton is used only for emergencies. Analysis indicates that once the existing runway is upgraded, it will be long enough to support the deployment of fighter jets. If further upgraded and extended, it will be able to support the deployment of large transport aircraft and maritime patrol aircraft.

China also has plans to build container ports in the region. Kiribati and Solomon established diplomatic relations with Beijing in 2019 after breaking diplomatic ties with Taiwan. They also joined the “Belt & Road Initiative.” Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Kiribati President Taneti Maamau on January 6, 2020.

The other four island nations in the Pacific region — the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Nauru, and Palau — continue to maintain diplomatic and economic relations with Taiwan. Palau’s new President Surangel Whipps has called for greater U.S. investment in the region.

China’s economic development efforts have resulted in the partial or complete purchase of more than a dozen ports around the world since 1990, with Southeast Asia among the major areas of Chinese investment. The current increase in Chinese investment in Pacific ports and islands is part of its longer-term strategic consideration. There have been concerns about the dual commercial and military use of these ports, although Beijing does not acknowledge its military purposes.

Source: Radio France International, May 7, 2021
https://rfi.my/7NQG.T

The Austrian newspaper Die Presse reported on May 14 that a spokesman for the Austrian military confirmed that civil servants have taken Chinese language courses at the Confucius Institute. In exceptional cases, teachers from the Confucius Institute also came to teach at an Austrian military base, such as the Theresian Military Academy in the Wiener Neustadt, a city south of Vienna.

Richard Trappl, the 70-year-old Austrian director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Vienna, wrote to the newspaper that “the Confucius Institute at the University of Vienna can be considered as a language intermediary agency, such as the Cervantes Institute or the Berlitz Language School.” He declined multiple interview requests from the reporter. The newspaper reported that officials from the Austrian military also receive Chinese language training at the controversial institution. Sweden, also a member of the European Union, closed its last Confucius Institute back in April last year. Universities in the United States, Germany and Australia have also recently ended, suspended or renegotiated their cooperation with Confucius Institutes.

A spokesman for the Austrian military confirmed to the newspaper that officers are taking Chinese language courses at the Confucius Institute. In exceptional cases, CI teachers also have come to teach at the premises of the armed forces, for example at the Theresian Military Academy in the city of Wiener Neustadt. The newspaper mentioned that Austrian officers started to learn the Chinese language in 1997, when one military officer was sent to Beijing. At that time there was no Confucius Institute.

Beijing Foreign Studies University and the University of Vienna jointly established the Confucius Institute at the University of Vienna on September 25, 2006. It was the first Confucius Institute in the country,

In the past two years, two Austrian military employees received language training from the Confucius Institute and paid 7,900 euros. Several Sinologists told the newspaper that, even without the Confucius Institute, there are enough highly qualified native-speaking teachers in Vienna to conduct language courses on this scale.

In addition to the Austrian military, the Confucius Institute also taught at the country’s Academy of Diplomats. While the Austrian Foreign Ministry recruits future diplomats from the Academy, it has not sent staff to the Confucius Institute for language training. A spokesperson for the ministry said, “In line with the political positioning of the EU, Austria sees the People’s Republic of China not only as a partner and economic competitor, but also as a strategic adversary that advocates alternative models of governance.”

Source: Radio France International, May 16, 2021
https://rfi.my/7Ots.T

According to a German TV station ARD Fernsehenin, there is a provision in the proposed EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) which provides that, in the future, only Chinese citizens can head Germany’s foundations in China.

Foreign foundations and Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) face a lot of difficulties in China because the authorities place severe restrictions on what they can do. This provision is an article in the appendix of the Agreement on Investment. The German foundations in China told ARD Fernsehenin’s studio in Beijing that they were concerned about this and that the provision is “confusing” and “threatening.”

Germany’s Reinhard Bütikofer, the chairman of the European Parliament’s China delegation and MEP (member of the European Parliament) for the German Green party Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen, called the provision “scandalous.” The MEP, who China recently sanctioned, said, “When Chinese citizens have to lead the work of a German political foundation or business association, the Communist Party effectively establishes the direction of its work.”

The foundations were surprised by the provision in Appendix II of the agreement. The appendix was supposed to regulate the company’s access to the market. A representative of a foundation said that the clause seemed to have “fallen from the sky.” In particular, the stipulation that only Chinese citizens can hold management positions in foundations is stricter than the regulations on NGOs that were introduced in 2017.

Under the German Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the EU and China reached agreement in principle on the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment at the end of December. The agreement is currently frozen due to the sanctions that China imposed on multiple members of the European Parliament.

Source: Radio France International, May 13, 2021
https://rfi.my/7ON3.T

United Daily News (UDN), one of the primary Taiwanese news groups, recently reported from New Delhi that Chinese workers in India have complained about not being able to return home. Without making a public announcement, the Chinese government quietly asked the Indian government not to issue travel permits to Chinese workers. This indirectly resulted in Chinese workers in India being banned from returning by air. Mr. Zhang, a Chinese citizen working in the Indian technology industry, confirmed this. He said he was not able to obtain an e-pass from the Indian government, even if he provided all the required documents. Another manager working for a Taiwanese firm suffered the same experience. Sun Weidong, the Chinese Ambassador to India, said in a media interview that the Chinese Embassy had frequent communications with Chinese citizens in India. Reporters in New Delhi from the Central News Agency (CNA, the largest news agency in Taiwan) contacted the Chinese Embassy. No one took the phone call, including the Media Relations section and the Consular Section. Taiwan and South Korea are arranging evacuation planes to bring their citizens home. Japan already did so. However, due to the border military conflicts between India and China, the number of Chinese citizens in India had significantly declined.

Source: UDN, May 6, 2021
https://udn.com/news/story/120944/5438355

Online protesters welcomed the drawing competition “China in the Eyes of Turks.” The Turkish Ministry of Education and the Chinese Embassy in Turkey are organizing a drawing contest for Turkish high school students with the theme “China in my eyes,” to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The drawing contest has triggered a backlash among Turks, with Twitter users creating hashtags based on the contest’s name and posting pictures that are parodies of Uyghurs being persecuted.

In one drawing, a girl is leaping upwards towards the star and moon flag with a blue background, the symbol of the East Turkestan independence movement, with her right hand raised as if she is striving for a firm goal.

Ahmet Davutoglu, a longtime ally of current Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a former foreign minister and prime minister, uploaded this drawing and posted “Our dream is East Turkistan. Dear children, draw your dream of saving your brothers and sisters in our ancestral home and send them to this contest. Say it out loud so that those who don’t want to see it can hear it!”

“#hayalimdekicin (China in my dream)” became a popular hashtag after netizens posted the Turkish Ministry of Education’s official letter on the Internet, while many Twitter users posted a number of comical images that were parodies of Uyghurs being persecuted.

The paintings included a group of men in blue shirts sitting on the ground under an iron curtain in a Xinjiang concentration camp with an adult in a red robe with a Chinese national five-star flag holding the mouth and nose of a Uighur girl in pigtails, a stained star and moon flag stained with five stars painted in blood, and a boy whose family was imprisoned in a concentration camp, sitting alone in his home and crying on Eid al-Fitr, a religious holiday that Muslims celebrate.

Twitter user @MardinTes said in Turkish and translates, “Our students should participate in this contest, with thousands of pictures depicting the torture, assimilation and genocide that the murderer China has inflicted on our kinsmen.”

Another user @seyittumturk7 posted in Turkish and translates, “State of Pain China, State of the Blood China, State of persecution China, State of Terror China, State of Tears China, Genocide State China.”

The Uyghurs living in Xinjiang province of China are a Turkic ethnic group sharing the same cultural and ancestral roots with the Turkish people. Beijing’s genocidal persecution of Uyghurs is viewed by most people in Turkey as the persecution of their brothers and sisters.

Source: Central News Agency, May 7, 2021
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/aopl/202105070074.aspx