News Story: Cut ties with N. Korea, Japan foreign minister Kono urges world

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono

NEW YORK (Kyodo) -- Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono called Thursday for all countries that maintain diplomatic and economic ties with North Korea to sever them in a unified response to Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

"Now is the time for the international community as a whole to maximize the pressure on North Korea to take concrete actions toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Kono said in a speech to students at Columbia University in New York after several days of meetings during the U.N. General Assembly's general debate week.

"Can you believe that over 160 countries have diplomatic ties with North Korea, the biggest threat to the world right now?" he asked during the speech, a few hours after discussing the North Korea issue in a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

He said too many countries also maintain economic ties with the North, including by accepting its migrant workers, a target of the latest U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution adopted in response to the Sept. 3 nuclear test.

"We must work together with countries in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa to get rid of the 'loopholes' in the sanctions," Kono said.

Read the full story at The Mainichi

News Report: Pakistan Cautions Against Any US Coercive Action

Ayaz Gul

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan says it seeks to amicably resolve issues with the United States, cautioning “any [coercive] American action” would cause instability in the country.

The remarks by Defense Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan came days after U.S. President Donald Trump singled out Pakistan for harboring terrorist organizations, including the Taliban and Haqqani network, which destabilize Afghanistan and plot attacks on American troops there.

Trump did not outline what actions he might order to pressure Islamabad to move against the alleged terrorist sanctuaries. A range of punitive measures reportedly is being considered, though, such as increasing diplomatic and economic pressure, and intensifying and expanding anti-terrorism drone strikes inside Pakistan.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday in Islamabad, Defense Minister Khan again rejected that there are any terrorist sanctuaries in Pakistan. He said Pakistani security forces already have taken action against all terrorist groups and are in the process of eliminating their “remnants” in the country.

Minister Khan also cited U.S. military assessments that say less then 60 percent of Afghan territory is under the control or influence of the Kabul government.

“That is why we are all gravely concerned about the fact that 40 percent of Afghanistan has perhaps become a safe haven [for terrorists],” he said.

News Story: China's First Carrier Calls (in) Hong Kong at Time of Tension

On Friday, China's first aircraft carrier and her strike group escorts berthed in Hong Kong, a potent reminder of Beijing's power at a time of tension over the extent of the port city's autonomy. 

Naval analysts see the vessel – the Liaoning, a refitted Soviet jump-ramp carrier – as a symbol of China's blue-water ambitions, but not as a significant strategic asset. Like her sister ship, the Russian carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, she lacks catapults for launching fully-laden fighters, limiting the combat capability of her air wing. Still, the Liaoning has “coercive and intimidation value when dealing with smaller, rival claimant nations in the South China Sea," according to Euan Graham of the Lowy Institute, speaking with FT. And in Hong Kong, she provides a show of force at a time when China is seeking to remind the territory of Beijing’s authority. 

Read the full story at MarEx

News Report: After Panama, Beijing to 'Put More Pressure on Taiwan' Over One-China Principle

China may well establish relations with several more of Taiwan's diplomatic allies unless Taipei pursues a policy which is more oriented toward the Chinese mainland, Dr. Joseph Cheng, Professor of Political Science at the City University of Hong Kong, told Radio Sputnik.

On Monday, Panama and China signed an agreement on the establishment of full diplomatic relations, in which Panama supported Beijing's One China principle. 

"The Government of the Republic of Panama recognizes that there is only one China in the world," China and Panama declared in a joint statement on Tuesday.

"The government of the People's Republic of China is the only legitimate government representing all China, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory."

In doing so, Panama became the second country in six months to break off relations with Taiwan, which Beijing considers to be a province of China. In December, the small African island nation of Sao Tome and Principe also established relations with Beijing. 

The move leaves Taiwan in greater international isolation, since it is now recognized by just 19 UN member states, as well as the Vatican. Eleven of the countries which still recognize Taiwan are in Latin America and the Caribbean.

News Report: Pentagon - Chinese Military Expansion May Lead to Pakistan Base

A new report from the Pentagon suggests China’s ongoing military expansion into friendly nations may reach Pakistan. The report also notes that instead of acquiring new land for man-made islands in the South China Sea, Beijing is opting to build up reefs with military facilities and extend existing runways.

China recently built an outpost in Djibouti. Though that base is located near the US’ Camp Lemonnier in the Horn of Africa, US military officials don’t see it as a threat to Washington’s operations.

The report stated that China, the world’s fourth largest arms dealer, "most likely will seek to establish additional military bases in countries with which it has a longstanding friendly relationship and similar strategic interests, such as Pakistan, and in which there is a precedent for hosting foreign militaries … This initiative, along with regular naval vessel visits to foreign ports, both reflects and amplifies China’s growing influence, extending the reach of its armed forces." 

This expansion by China is part of its New Silk Road initiative, also called the Belt and Road initiative, an effort to create an intercontinental network of highways, trade routes, ports and rail lines for economic development. The proposed land and sea networks would make their way through Europe, Asia and Africa and are touted as bringing economic benefits to countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan.

News Story: Pentagon - China used coercive force to enforce maritime claims

By Patricia Lourdes Viray

MANILA, Philippines — Beijing has used its growing power to assert its sovereignty claims over features in the East and South China Seas, the US Department of Defense said in its 2017 China Military Power Report.

"China has used coercive tactics, such as the use of law enforcement vessels and its maritime militia, to enforce maritime claims and advance its interests in ways that are calculated to fall below the threshold of provoking conflict," the report read.

The Pentagon reported that for the past year, China continued construction of its military outposts in the Spratly Islands in the disputed South China Sea, part of which the Philippines claims as the West Philippine Sea.

China can now deploy military asserts to the Spratly Islands as it is nearly finished with the construction of infrastructures on Subi, Mischief and Fiery Cross Reefs.

The report also noted that Beijing was able to land civilian aircraft on its airfields on the "Big Three" artificial islands.

The Pentagon took note of the July 2016 of an arbitral tribunal ruling which invalidated China's nine-dash line claim in the disputed waters, which Beijing rejected.

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Report: Pentagon - China Uses Coercion to Advance Its Claims in East, South China Seas

The US Department of Defense claimed in an annual report on Tuesday that China is exercising "low-intensity coercion" to assert its control over the disputed areas in the East and South China Seas.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — China is using coercion to assert its control over disputed territories in the East and South China Seas, the US Department of Defense said in an annual report to Congress dubbed Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China.

"China continues to exercise low-intensity coercion to advance its claims in the East and South China Seas," the report said on Tuesday.

The report explained that during periods of tension, official statements and state media seek to portray China as reactive, but Beijing uses "an opportunistically timed progression of incremental but intensifying steps to attempt to increase effective control over disputed areas and avoid escalation to military conflict."

China has a number of territorial disputes with its neighbors. Beijing has a dispute with Tokyo over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, called the Diaoyu Islands by China.

China claims the entire South China Sea region as its own and is engaged in a bitter dispute with Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan who also have counter claims. Beijing has built installations at strategically located islands in the region, which is considered to be rich in minerals, oil and other natural resources.

This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.

News Report: Mattis Says US to Oppose China’s Island Construction in South China Sea

US SecDef James Mattis

James Mattis said that the United States would continue to oppose China’s island-building and militarization of the disputed South China Sea.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — US Defense Secretary James Mattis vowed Saturday the United States would continue to oppose China’s island-building and militarization of the disputed South China Sea but stressed peace was still an option.

"We cannot accept Chinese actions that impinge on the interest of the international community, undermining the rules-based order that has benefited all countries… While competition between the US and China, the world’s two largest economies, is bound to occur conflict is not inevitable," Mattis said in a speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

He continued to say that the United States "oppose countries militarizing artificial islands and enforcing excessive maritime claims unsupported by international law. We cannot and will not accept unilateral coercive changes to the status quo."

This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.

News Report: China Is a ‘Bully,’ and America Is Better Than the White House, McCain Says

Senator John McCain
(Image: Wiki Commons)

Arizona Republican Senator John McCain, hired for a speaking engagement in Sydney, Australia, on Tuesday, portrayed China’s foreign policy moves as that of a schoolyard tormentor.

Critical of foreign policy moves by the administration of US President Donald Trump, McCain also suggested that China was engaged in intellectual theft, illegal territory annexation and economic coercion, the Hill reported.

"The challenge is that as China has grown wealthier and stronger, it seems to be acting more and more like a bully," McCain remarked at the US Studies Center at the University of Sydney, cited by Australia's 9news.au.

"It is refusing to open more of its economy so that foreign businesses can compete fairly," McCain said. "It is stealing other people's intellectual property. It is asserting vast territorial claims that have no basis in international law. And it is using its trade and investment as tools to coerce its neighbors."

News Report: Many in Bangladesh Oppose Proposed Defense Pact With India

Maaz Hussain

New Delhi and Dhaka are set to sign an umbrella agreement to increase defense cooperation during Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's four-day visit to India, which begins Friday.

All deals would be struck maintaining the friendly terms between the two countries, and there will be nothing detrimental to the interests of Bangladesh in the agreement, Hasina said Wednesday in Dhaka.

But many security experts, diplomats and others in Bangladesh think the proposed agreement would not benefit Bangladesh and could even go against the country's interests.

"Bangladesh does not need a defense pact with India, or for that matter with any other country, because it does not face any threat of external aggression from any of its neighbors," Serajul Islam, a former Bangladeshi diplomat, told VOA. "With China, a sworn enemy of India, Bangladesh has been in defense-related cooperation for decades. If Bangladesh signs such a defense pact [with India], it would be viewed by Beijing as a deal directed against it."

News Report: THAAD Deployment 'May Result in China, S. Korea Ripping Up Diplomatic Relations'

This week, South Korea's Defense Ministry approved a land deal with a local business conglomorate for the deployment of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system in the country's southeast. Chinese media and experts responded by warning that the deployment could lead to the collapse of Chinese-South Korean relations.

On Tuesday, the South Korean Defense Ministry confirmed that it was planning a land swap deal with Lotte Groupe, a South Korean mega-conglomerate. Under the deal, Lotte would receive a state-owned plot of land near Seoul in exchange for one of its golf courses in the country's southeast, where the THAAD system is expected to be deployed.

A day earlier, Yonhap clarified that up to nine launchers with eight missiles apiece may be deployed in the region. The system, designed to intercept short, medium and intermediate range ballistic missiles at the terminal incoming stage, could become operational as soon as this June. The deployment is ostensibly meant to help deal with the nuclear and missile threat posed by North Korea.

Russian and Chinese officials have repeatedly urged Seoul and Washington to reconsider the missile defense system's deployment. At a meeting between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov and Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Kong Xuanyou on Tuesday, the two sides reiterated their "grave concern and strong objection" to the THAAD deployment, and called on the US and South Korea "to respect China's and Russia's reasonable and fair concerns over security," and not to threaten the strategic balance in the region.

News Story: China-ROK exchanges need public support - FM spokesman

BEIJING, March 1 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday said the public's will is vital to its ties with the Republic of Korea (ROK) as bilateral relations are strained by the ROK's plan to deploy THAAD.

"China takes a positive and open attitude toward exchanges and cooperation with the ROK, but it also requires appropriate basis of the public's will and public opinion," said Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang, at a press briefing when asked whether China has started taking punitive measures against the ROK.

Media reports said some Chinese websites had stopped broadcasting ROK TV dramas and ROK pop stars were no longer invited to China to participate in variety shows or other programs.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: China Blocks Access to S.Korean Streaming Services as Part of Anti-THAAD Policy

China has blocked access to the recently uploaded South Korean music and movies on the Korean sharing platforms, media reported on Sunday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Chinese officials also forced the regional TV broadcasters suspend the airing of South Korean TV shows and programs, as well as prohibited the appearance of Korean stars on Chinese TV shows, the Yonhap news agency said, citing an official in the industry.

According to the media, the move comes as a part of China's policy of opposing South Korea’s decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in the country.

South Korean TV programs are very popular in China, with some of the dramas being viewed via online streaming services more than four billion times. Therefore, China's decision is feared to strike a serious blow to the Korean industry, Yonhap explained, citing its source.

The THAAD system has a range of some 200 kilometers (125 miles) and is designed to intercept short, medium and intermediate ballistic missiles at the terminal incoming stage. The agreement on THAAD between South Korea and the United States was reached in July 2016, with the move being criticized by China and Russia as inappropriate and affecting other countries' interests.

Earlier on Sunday, media reported that South Korea is expecting to station the THAAD system as early as in June.

This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.

News Report: China Holds Massive Military Rallies in Xinjiang After Spate of Violence

China has again sent hundreds of troops to its far-west Xinjiang region, the restive heartland of its Uygur minority, this time for oath-taking rallies and a general show of force against terrorism.

In a mass anti-terror rally in Xinjiang's capital, Urumqi, hundreds of armed Chinese troops and police accompanied by armored vehicles marched through the streets. Ranked in front of a government building, they shouted pledges to fight terrorism.

Xinjiang deputy party secretary Zhu Hailun called the rally a sign of "real action" to ramp up the fight against terror, and said extremists would be "smashed and destroyed," the South China Morning Post reports.

"With guns by our bodies, knives unsheathed, fists out and hands extended, we must use thunderous power to strike hard against terrorist activities," Zhu said.

News Report: UN Accused of Complicity in Pakistan’s Alleged Unlawful, Coerced Repatriation of Afghans

Ayaz Gul

ISLAMABAD — An international rights defender has accused Pakistan and the United Nations refugee agency of complicity in promoting “unlawful and coerced” repatriation of tens of thousands of Afghan refugees.

In a report released Monday, Human Rights Watch alleges that in response to deadly security incidents and deteriorating political relations with Afghanistan over the past two years, Pakistani authorities have mounted a concerted campaign to drive Afghans out of Pakistan.

“In the second half of 2016, a toxic combination of deportation threats and police abuses pushed out nearly 365,000 of the country’s 1.5 million registered Afghan refugees, as well as just over 200,000 of the country’s estimated one million undocumented Afghans,” the report noted.

HRW senior researcher Patricia Gossman, while sharing details of the report at a news conference in Kabul, said the exodus amounts to the world’s largest unlawful mass forced return of refugees in recent times.

“The way Pakistan carried that out was through a range [of] abuses toward the refugee[s] and the undocumented Afghans in Pakistan. And this included, detentions, extortion, extracting bribes, the closure of Afghan schools, raids on people's homes and other threats, including from the local population that Afghans we[re] no longer welcome.”

News Story: China once again urges Singapore to abide by one-China policy

BEIJING, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday again urged Singapore to strictly abide by the one-China policy, after Hong Kong authorities said they would return armored vehicles to the city-state that were detained two months ago.

"We hope Singapore can cooperate with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to handle the follow-up issues and take warning from the incident," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying at a daily press briefing.

Nine Singaporean armored vehicles, reportedly used in military drills in Taiwan, were seized by Hong Kong customs on Nov. 23, 2016 while in transit at a dock in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Commissioner of Hong Kong Customs and Excise Roy Tang said Tuesday that Hong Kong Customs had completed its investigation and would return the batch of military vehicles to Singapore.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Chinese FM urges Mongolia to draw lessons from Dalai Lama visit, respect China's core interests

BEIJING, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Tuesday that Mongolia shall draw lessons from the Dalai Lama's visit last November and respect China's major concerns and core interests.

Wang made the remarks over a telephone conversation with his Mongolian counterpart, Tsend Munkh-Orgil, at the latter's invitation.

The Chinese minister said the development of China-Mongolia relations, which is in line with the fundamental interests of the two countries and two peoples, has been overshadowed by the negative impacts of the Dalai Lama's visit.

Wang said that Mongolia has reflected deeply upon the visit and made an explicit promise not to allow the political exile to visit the landlocked Asian nation again.

Mongolia shall keep its promise and make practical efforts to improve the China-Mongolia relationship, the top Chinese diplomat added.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: THAAD vs Cosmetics: China's Retaliation Concerns Over MD Dispute With Seoul

Annual reports of South Korean cosmetics exporting companies will be disclosed in February to draw a line under media disputes on whether any restriction were put on the import of South Korean beauty products to China as countermeasures against THAAD system deployment.

Several major South Korean media outlets have recently reported, citing industry sources, that the Chinese government is putting pressure on South Korean cosmetics manufacturers in the wake of the South Korean government’s decision in favor of the deployment of the THAAD system.

South Korean media also reported, allegedly citing high officials from Chinese Ministry of Commerce, that the issue of the South Korean cosmetics import ban will be discussed at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Free Trade Agreement between China and South Korea on January 13.

Reports say that the issue will be discussed at the ministerial level if necessary, and would therefore be an official recognition that China is taking economic retaliation against Seoul's decision to deploy THAAD.

News Story: Trump govt faces rising risk of international conflict

By Paul HANDLEY

The incoming Donald Trump administration faces a world of greater risk of conflict, slower growth and more anti-democratic pressures than ever since the Cold War, a new US intelligence report released Monday said.

US leadership is ebbing amid shifts in economic, political and technological power, deep changes in the global landscape "that portend a dark and difficult near future," according to the National Intelligence Council's "Global Trends: Paradox of Progress" report.

"The next five years will see rising tensions within and between countries," said the report.

"For better or worse, the emerging global landscape is drawing to a close an era of American dominance following the Cold War."

The National Intelligence Council, a research group under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, issues its global assessment every four years, and the new one came 11 days before Trump is inaugurated as president.

It painted a gloomy picture of the challenges pulling at the post-World War II global order, including extreme income disparities, technological dislocation, demographic shifts, the impacts of global warming, and intensifying communal conflicts.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Story: Trump seems to rule out meeting with Taiwan president

President-elect Donald Trump seemed to rule out Saturday a meeting with the president of Taiwan when she travels to America next month.

Trump angered China and seemed to upend decades of US policy this month when he took a congratulatory phone call from Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen.

Tsai will transit in Houston January 7-8 as she travels to Central America and stops over in San Francisco January 13-14 on her way home.

Beijing has asked Washington to bar Tsai from flying through US airspace.

Trump, speaking to reporters Saturday at his estate in Florida, was asked if he would meet with Tsai if she stopped in the US. He takes office January 20.

"Stops by here?," Trump said.

"In the United States or in Palm Beach? Nobody's ever mentioned that to me. I'm not meeting with anybody until after January 20th because it's a little bit inappropriate. From a protocol standpoint. But we'll see," Trump said. "We'll see."

Read the full story at SpaceDaily