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Duowei: Trump Is More of an Arms Dealer Taking Advantage of Japan and South Korea’s Crisis

Duowei, a Beijing controlled media based overseas, published an article commenting on President Trump’s Asian trip. Below is an excerpt from the article:

“U.S. President Trump visited South Korea on November 7. During the welcoming ceremony of the Korean President Moon Jae-in at The Blue House Cheongwadae, Trump’s first concern was the issue of arms sales to South Korea, which he believed would help to reduce the trade deficit between the two countries. Two days before Trump was to visit Japan, he also demanded that Japan should purchase a ‘massive’ amount of weapons from the United States, including missiles and fighters. Trump’s demands on Japan and South Korea are ostensibly aimed at responding to the DPRK’s nuclear threat. Actually, all these efforts are aimed at increasing employment in the United States and changing the trade imbalance between the U.S. and Japan and South Korea. This was also evident during the first three stops of his Asian tour. Japan, South Korea, and China are the three targets of the Treasury Department for the manipulation of exchange rates. They are also Donald Trump’s three stakeholders on this trip to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue. “

“It can be said that Trump is very pragmatic to use the threat of the North Korean nuclear crisis to sell arms to U.S. allies. It is also {clear} from this point that Trump did not have any big strategic design for his trip to Asia. Instead, it is an extension of the principle of ‘the U.S. first.’ The White House stressed that Trump’s visit to Asia has three themes: the DPRK nuclear issue, the Indo-China Pacific region, and business trade. However, judging from Trump’s words and deeds during his visit, all three topics are ultimately related to ‘money.’ In other words, let allies give ‘money’ in return for their own safety. “

“All in all, the Trump, who is currently visiting Asia, does not look like a president. He looks more like a businessman who sells arms to the allies. However, as president, everything on his mind relates to how to cut down the foreign trade deficit and give an explanation to his diehard voters in order to ease the domestic pressure of governance.”

Source: Duowei, November 7, 2017
http://news.dwnews.com/global/news/2017-11-07/60022096.html

Global Times Asks Why China Cannot Openly Support Enemies of the U.S.

Last December, then U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Fox News Sunday, “I don’t know why we have to be bound by a ‘one China’ policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade.”

In response to Trump’s remarks, Global Times, a subsidiary of the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship newspaper People’s Daily, published an editorial the following day, December 12, 2016, questioning why China cannot openly support enemies of the United States.

The editorial acknowledged that Western media could have got it right, that Trump’s taking a congratulatory phone call from Taiwan’s president on December 2 could indicate that he was willing to trade the ‘one China’ policy for his short term gains.

Global Times went on to ridicule Trump’s business orientation as well as his lack of diplomatic savviness, observing that Trump figured that he could place a price on everything. Global Times posed the question, “How much would the U.S. constitution be worth if we ask Americans to trade it for an alternate political system of U.S. allies, such as Saudi Arabia or Singapore.

The editorial went on, “It appears that China has to engage in a round of resolute fighting and, through some setbacks, Trump may realize that he cannot easily take advantage of China or other forces in the world.”

The Global Times‘ editorial made it clear that, in case Trump gives up on the “one China” policy, publicly supports “Taiwan independence,” and sells weapons to Taiwan without restraint, there would be no need for Beijing to resist or cut ties with those forces that are against the U.S. The Global Times asked, “Why can we not publicly support them or provide them with weapons in private?”

The editorial asked, “When Trump publicly renounces the ‘one China’ policy, is there any more need for Beijing to attach more priority to peaceful unification than to claiming Taiwan by force?”

It concluded that the days were long gone when the U.S. dominated the Taiwan strait; in the end, the forces of Taiwan independence will grow so scared, its administration will regret having acted as a pawn of Trump, and their leader may refuse to take phone calls that Trump has initiated.

Source:
Global Times, December 12, 2016
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2016-12/9797239.html

Xinhua Interview: What to Expect from Trump’s First Visit to China

Xinhuanet had an exclusive interview with Diao Daming, an associate professor at the School of International Relations at Renmin University of China, discussing the important aspects of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to China from China’s perspective.

Diao Daming believes that the significance of this visit lies mainly in building a new type of international relationship and a common community of human destinies. The foundation of this new type of international relationship will be the building of a new type of Sino-U.S. Relationship.

Regarding the factors to which China should pay attention on this visit, Diao discussed the following:

The first important factor is whether this visit can form a consensus position for Sino-U.S. relations in the new era.

“As China moves to the center stage of the world and takes an active position in shaping the relations between China and the United States, it is noteworthy whether the Trump administration has a positive and clear expression toward the issues that concern China, such as the AIIB and the One Belt and Road initiative. We should pay attention to whether the United States responds to our above concerns.”

In addition, this visit will be the third official meeting between Xi and Trump. As Trump’s first visit to China this year, another factor to consider is whether or not there are special arrangements and special forms to enhance the mutual trust between the leaders of the two countries and between the two countries.

Source: Xinhua, November 7, 2017
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2017-11/07/c_129734169.htm

British Think Tank: Hong Kong Has Gone Backward Since It Was Handed over to China

On October 31, the British think tank, the Henry Jackson Society, published a report, “20 Years after Hong Kong’s Handover.” It stated that, since the handover, Hong Kong has gone backward on citizen rights, human rights, and legal rights and that Beijing has interfered in Hong’s system and autonomy, which has impacted Hong Kong’s economy, political world, and legal system.

Over the past 10 years, Hong Kong’s democracy and legal rights have deteriorated significantly. China used some direct and indirect methods to force Hong’s legislative process and judicial system to follow Beijing’s orders. China’s law enforcement personnel have used illegal abductions against those who challenged China’s top leadership group and Hong Kong’s rank in the World Press Freedom Index dropped from 18th in 2002 to 73rd in 2017.

Source: VOA, November 2, 2017
https://www.voachinese.com/a/british-reports-hongkong-20171102/4096631.html

South Korean Newspaper: China Arrested North Korean Agents

According to South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo (English: The Central Times), China arrested two North Korean agents who attempted to murder Kim Han-sol, son of Kim Yong-nam. Kim Yong-nam was Kim Jong-un’s elder brother. North Koreans murdered him in Malaysia in February.

Seven members of North Korea’s intelligence agency tried to carry out the murder plan against Kim Han-sol. China tightened its security control during the 19th National Communist Party Congress, which helped the discovery of this attempt.

Source: DW News, October 30, 2017
http://news.dwnews.com/global/news/2017-10-30/60020546.html

Chinese Professional Test Taker Caught in New Zealand

Weibo reported that a Chinese woman was caught at the Auckland airport in New Zealand for carrying three different passports. She planned to take the SAT test and the test for Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) for other people (hence the need for the different passports).

China has a “flourishing” underground market for test takers. This woman charged nearly US $100,000 for taking just one test.

Earlier this year, the FBI arrested four Chinese citizens for hiring other people to take the TOEFL {the most widely respected English-language test} for them. They are facing the charge of “conspiracy to cheat the U.S.” and could be sentenced to up to five years in prison.

Source: Weibo, November 4, 2017
https://weibo.com/ttarticle/p/show?id=2309404170487788924371&ssl_rnd=1510093760.2751

Lianhe Zaobao: 27 Countries on “The Belt and Road” Have “Garbage” Level Sovereign Credit Ratings

Singapore’s primary Chinese language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao recently reported that a number of international studies have shown that most of the projects under China’s grand “The Belt and Road” plan do not show sound financial returns. When the top three international rating agencies ranked the 68 partner countries China included in “The Belt and Road” plan, 27 showed they suffered from “Garbage” level sovereign credit. Among the rest of the countries, 14 (including Afghanistan, Iran and Syria) either were not rated, or the respective governments withdrew their rating requests. “The Belt and Road” plan estimates that, over a ten year period, it will achieve a spending level of US$1.2 trillion on such infrastructure projects as railways, roads, ports, and power grids. Financial and banking experts suggested that it would be a better idea to classify the plan as a geopolitical investment rather than a profitable financial program. China has so far spent or committed to spend over US$500 billion, which does not include large commercial bank loans. The source for most of this spending is China-backed investment funds.

Source: Lianhe Zaobao, October 28, 2017
http://www.zaobao.com.sg/finance/china/story20171028-806533

RFI Chinese: Chinese Drug Lords Replace South Americans as Primary U.S. Drug Suppliers

Radio France Internationale (RFI) recently reported that U.S. President Trump declared national public health emergencies twice this year because of the opioid epidemic. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, China is the supplier of almost the entire source of opioid type drugs, the main one being Fentanyl. Fentanyl is around ten times stronger than Heroin. Proven records show that at least 12 Chinese drug companies have had online commercials claiming they could export Fentanyl to the United States and Canada for US$2,750 per kilogram. Most of the Chinese Fentanyl was first shipped to Mexico and then smuggled into the United States. The Chinese supplied all of the opioid drugs that a recently captured New York 34-person drug dealership retailed. In fact, all of the drug cartels that were cracked down on this year sourced their opioid drugs from China. The latest illegal marijuana-planting group arrested in California after the state’s legalization of marijuana was Chinese and Chinese sources funded the group.

Source: RFI Chinese, October 31, 2017
http://bit.ly/2A85LSA