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Global Times Editorial: The Boundary and Focal Point of Sino-U.S. Cooperation in the Korean Peninsula

China’s State Media Global Times recently published a series of editorials on the North Korea nuclear crisis. Below is an excerpt from one editorial discussing the boundary of Sino-U.S. cooperation on this issue.

“Some of the strategic factors of the DPRK nuclear issue have changed, including that the scope of cooperation between China and the United States is expanding. China has not only strengthened the intensity of sanctions against the DPRK, but also will further strengthen the sanctions if the DPRK takes new important actions that violate the UN Security Council resolution. In addition, the United States has given up its ‘strategic patience’ policy and openly talks about the possibility of launching military attacks against the DPRK. It seems that this is not just a verbal threat.”

“China and the United States seem to have made a determination to become more active on the DPRK nuclear issue. The possibility of a DPRK nuclear issue is declining sharply. Pyongyang faces a strategic choice between confrontation to the end at the risk of survival and coming back to the negotiation table by abandoning its nuclear program.”

“Cooperation between Beijing and Washington will not be without principles. Beijing will insist on limiting Sino-U.S. cooperation to the goal of restraining North Korea’s nuclear-led activities. However, with the development of the situation, it is estimated that Beijing will agree to resort to the severe means of bringing down North Korea’s entire economic activities, such as stopping the majority of oil exports to the DPRK. If the United States implements the financial blockade, Beijing will also likely agree to cooperate.”

“In any case, Sino-U.S. cooperation will not be extended to the military threat to the DPRK. Beijing will never support or cooperate with the United States in taking military action against the DPRK; it will not support the United States in “expanding” its goal of overthrowing the Pyongyang regime.”

Source: Global Times (Huánqiú ) April 18, 2017
http://mil.huanqiu.com/strategysituation/2017-04/10493109.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Beijing City Encourages People to “Capture Spies”

Voice of America (VOA) reported that the Beijing Municipal State Security Bureau issued a regulation concerning, “Award Methods for Citizens to Report Spy Activities.”

“According to the regulation, citizens can communicate through a phone call, letter, or face-to-face reporting methods to ‘report spy activity to the Beijing Municipal State Security Bureau. If the clue is useful, those who report the information can receive awards ranging between 10,000 Yuan (U.S. $1,492) and 500,000 Yuan.’”

“However, this frightened many people who had experienced Mao Zedong’s time (the 1950s to the 1970s).”

“Mao promoted ‘anti-spy’ and ‘capture spy’ movements. During their peak time, thousands of spies from the U.S. and the USSR were ‘found’ and many families were torn apart. There was countless evidence proving that the then President of China Liu Shaoqi was a traitor and his wife was a strategic spy from the U.S.”

“After Mao’s death, the Communist Party obtained countless evidence that the previous thousands of spies were wrongfully indicted. Liu Shaoqi was not a traitor but rather a great leader of China and his wife was not a U.S. spy, either.”

Source: VOA, April 20, 2017
http://www.voachinese.com/a/news-beijing-offers-hefty-cash-reward-for-spy-tip-20170410/3803973.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics US-China Relations

Did China Stop the VOA Interview of Guo Wengui?

China is reported to have interfered with a Voice of America (VOA) interview of Guo Wengui (郭文贵) and to cause VOA to stop airing its interview. Guo is a business tycoon who fled from China because he feared being arrested for bribing officials. Once he came to the U.S., on multiple occasions, Guo revealed the corruption of top level officials, including in the VOA interview.

The Chinese government has accused Guo of bribery and has tried to bring him back to China. After the VOA interview event, China aired a video recording in which Ma Jian, former Deputy Minister of State Security who had been taken down for corruption, confessed to receiving money from Guo.

On April 21, Lu Kang, the Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received several questions from Western media about this incident:

VOA reporter: During his interview with VOA, Guo Wengui brought up some sensitive things about sensitive people, including Xi Jinping and Wang Qishan. Is what he said true? Do you have any comments? Also, China issued a Red Notice on Guo Wengui to Interpol just before the interview. Was it a coincidence or was it on purpose?

Lu Kang: For the first question, we have said that Guo Wengui was a criminal suspect under Interpol’s Red Notice. So if you choose to believe what he said, that’s your thing. We don’t believe it. For the second question, Interpol is the second largest international organization among governments, with over 100 years of history and 190 members. We trust that it is serious about what it does.

BBC reporter: Just another follow up, again a point of clarification on the question that was already answered before. The question is about the VOA interview that was stopped and was kept from proceeding. Am I right in assuming that you are saying the Chinese government was not involved in it whatsoever?

Lu Kang: I think the VOA reporter asked the question just now and I have clearly answered it.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) reporter: The first one is to follow up on the previous question. It was reported that the Chinese embassy reached out to VOA and contacted them directly and asked them not to air the interview of Guo Wengui. So is that not the case? Can you confirm that?

Lu Kang: VOA itself did not ask this question. Why are you so interested in it?

{Editor’s note: Asia News reported, “Guo wanted to speak about corruption among China’s Communist leaders. Beijing got Interpol to issue an arrest warrant against him.”}

Sources:
VOA, April 21, 2017
http://www.voachinese.com/a/guo-wengui-interview-20170421/3820414.html
Asia News, April 22, 2017
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Voice-of-America-cuts-interview-with-Guo-Wengui-over-rampant-corruption-in-China-40542.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics US-China Relations

Duowei: Chinese Arms Sales in Thailand Harbor Beijing’s Geo-Strategy

As an important neighbor of China, Thailand has purchased a variety of weapons and equipment from China, including the S-26 conventional submarine, VN-1 eight armored combat vehicles, Kashi-1C air defense missiles, guards-1B long-range rockets and more. On April 4, Thailand decided to purchase 10 more China VT-4 main battle tanks. It is less than a year since the last time Thailand bought China’s main battle tanks. In fact, not long ago, Bangkok, to a large extent, still chose to buy defense equipment from the United States and its Western allies.

China’s arms sales to this U.S. ally, Thailand, is intended to convey its strategic intentions to the United States: It is important for China to maintain the stability of the surrounding areas, including the stability of the South China Sea. China’s arms sales to Thailand cannot fundamentally change America’s Asia-Pacific policy, but such sales can be used as a means to show China’s attitude towards U.S. Asia-Pacific policy. Its political significance is far greater than its economic and military significance.

China’s military exchanges with Thailand, as well as with other countries and regions at different levels also show the outside world that China has the intention to bear more responsibility to maintain regional security.

The China-Philippines Scarborough Shoal incident, the Sino-Japanese Diaoyu Islands conflict, the China and South Korea “THAAD” dispute, and the Sino-U.S. “freedom of navigation” incident in the South China Sea all have made China’s peripheral security situation deteriorate. The United States’ shadow in these events was everywhere. In the military field, although China has made progress, the gap between the two countries is still very big. In order to encourage the United States to accept China’s rise, it is not enough to stay at the level of being firm strategically. Perhaps more and more intensive arms trades will show that China’s desire to play a more leading role in regional security is not only at the stage of having the idea, but has been put into action.

Source: Duowei, April 5, 2017
http://global.dwnews.com/news/2017-04-05/59808944.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend US-China Relations

SPIC: Still Evaluating Westinghouse’s Bankruptcy

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that the Chairman of China’s State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) visited Japan and had a discussion with its parent company Toshiba about the future of Westinghouse. He told the media that SPIC was still evaluating Westinghouse’s ownership structure. SPIC has not yet made a decision on whether to acquire it. China’s third generation nuclear power plants use Westinghouse’s AP1000 nuclear technology. Based on U.S. media reports, the Trump administration has been very much concerned about the potential possibility of Chinese capital acquiring Westinghouse. Westinghouse, with its 130 years’ history, is widely recognized in the world as the original inventor of nuclear power generation. SPIC paid a lot of attention to Westinghouse’s bankruptcy before it was even filed. SPIC said the restructure of Westinghouse should not concern the U.S. government, since it has already been sold several times previously. However, sources revealed that the U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry has taken actions to seek the elimination of any Chinese connection among the potential buyers. Westinghouse owns a large number of military technologies as well.

Source: Sina, April 8, 2017
http://finance.sina.com.cn/roll/2017-04-08/doc-ifyecezv2467689.shtml

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources US-China Relations

China’s Bottom Line on North Korea Nuclear Issue: The Security and Stability of Northeast China

In a commentary on North Korea’s nuclear crisis, Global Times, a newspaper under People’s Daily, published an article giving China’s bottom line if the U.S. chooses to challenge the North Korean regime unilaterally. The article stated：

“If the U.S. wants to solve North Korea’s nuclear issue, it is necessary to reduce the differences among the peripheral countries and form some key consensus. At the same time, it must also open up channels of communication with Pyongyang and leave some open space to allow the pressure on North Korea to take effect.”

“China hopes that the North Korean nuclear issue gets resolved as soon as possible. However, no matter what happens, China has a bottom line. China will protect China’s Northeast territory at all costs for its safety and stability. Related to this, North Korea’s nuclear activities must not cause any pollution in Northeast China. In addition, North Korea cannot go through the kind of turmoil that will produce a massive output of refugees. On the other side of the Yalu River, it cannot have a regime hostile to China. The U.S. military cannot march to the Yalu River.”

“If Washington wants to strengthen cooperation with Beijing to solve the North Korea nuclear issue, its policy should not be against China’s above concerns.”

Source: Global Times, April 5, 2017
http://mil.huanqiu.com/observation/2017-04/10425899.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend US-China Relations

Global Times: Some Americans Are Anxious To Stir Up Disputes in the South China Sea

China’s state media Global Times published a commentary about a report from the Asian Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI). The commentary stated that AMTI is trying to reignite the international media’s attention in its focus on the “militarization of the South China Sea,” saying that AMTI reported that “China’s military project on the Nansha (Spratly) Island reef has been completed, ready to deploy fighters and missiles and other equipment at any time.” The article labeled AMTI as the think tank that has always been stirring up problems about the South China Sea issue.

The article said, “At present, the situation in the South China Sea is calm and tranquil. This makes some Americans rather anxious, frequently trying to stir up disputes in the South China Sea. The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a regular press conference on (March) 28 whether China does or doesn’t deploy necessary national defense equipment in its own territory is a matter within the scope of China’s sovereignty; it is also a sovereign state’s right of self-defense and self-protection bestowed by international law.”

In commenting on the U.S. military’s response to the report, the article said that the U.S. military changed its past pattern of fanning the flames following such a report but obviously still agreed with the conclusion. It quoted Pentagon spokesman Ross’s statement that “more and more evidence shows that China continues to militarize the construction in the South China Sea,” and “China continues to take one-sided actions, resulting in increased tensions in the region.”

Source: Global Times, March 29, 2017
http://mil.huanqiu.com/observation/2017-03/10394431.html
http://military.people.com.cn/n1/2017/0329/c1011-29176345.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations