Why is China Not Using Her Strength to End the N Korea Nuclear Issue?
Sunday, August 30, 2009, 07:31 PM - Asia
If China really wanted to help solve the nuclear arms issues of N. Korea, there is no reason that they couldn't play hardball with North Korea and get them to stop testing nuclear weapons. However, some speculate that China has not bothered to confront North Korea under such harsh terms because they realize it is a thorn in the side of the United States military and it keeps us busy.
It would be unfortunate if China hasn't put forth their effort because they like to see the United States of America spend lots of money dealing with the North Korea problem. If China is trying to get the United States bogged down in Asia, then one has to ask why the United States of America has the Chinese as their number one trading partner.
After all our trade deficit with China is hundreds of billions of dollars per year. There is no way that the Chinese could have experienced 10% year-over-year growth in that nation without the help of all of the imports that we buy from them. Ever since the US consumer has stopped buying China's exports are down by between 35-50% depending on the sector. - See Political, International And Religious Issues for the full article.
add comment North Korea's Kim May Have Had Stroke, Official Says
Tuesday, September 9, 2008, 04:08 PM - Asia
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is sick and may have suffered a stroke in the past month, a U.S. intelligence official said.
The official, who declined to be publicly identified, said it was noteworthy that Kim didn't attend the 60th anniversary celebration of North Korea's founding today. The U.S., China and other nations have been negotiating with Kim's communist dictatorship about scrapping its nuclear weapons program in exchange for economic aid and broader ties.
U.S. intelligence had other reasons to believe Kim is ill, the official said, declining to describe those conclusions.
The South Korean government said Kim's absence at the celebration was unusual. ``We think that it is highly irregular, since he made an appearance during the 50th and 55th anniversary'' events, Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho Nyoun said in an interview.
A person who answered the telephone at the North Korean mission to the UN denied that Kim might have suffered a stroke. ``That is not true,'' the person said before hanging up without identifying himself. A subsequent call to the mission wasn't answered.
The developments come as North Korea has taken steps to reverse the dismantling of a major nuclear site, part of an agreement with the U.S., China, South Korea, Russia and Japan to end its nuclear-arms effort. - See North Korea's Kim May Have Had Stroke, Official Says for the full report.
Ma, New Taiwan President, Calls On China to Embrace Democracy
Tuesday, May 20, 2008, 01:38 PM - Asia
President Ma Ying-jeou urged China in his inaugural speech to move toward democracy and allow Taiwan a larger international role, testing his relationship with a government that claims sovereignty over the island.
``We hope that mainland China will continue to move toward freedom, democracy and prosperity for all people,'' Ma said after being sworn in today in Taipei. ``Taiwan doesn't just want security and prosperity. It wants dignity.''
Ma's comments, which included a pledge to acquire more weaponry, triggered the largest decline in Taiwan's stock market since his March 22 election. Ma, 57, pledged during his campaign to open regular direct flights with China for the first time in six decades while his party chairman will meet with mainland leaders next week in Beijing.
``Ma calling for democracy in China will not be music to Beijing's ears,'' said Yang Kai-huang, a political-science professor at Taipei's Mingchuan University, who is in Beijing attending a seminar. ``China will be concerned, but not surprised about Ma's arms purchase comment, as he is saying this to Taiwanese people and the U.S.''
Taiwan's Taiex index declined 2.4 percent to close at 9,068.89 today, the largest drop since March 13. Companies expected to benefit from closer ties to China led the slide, with the Taiex's Construction Index losing 5.3 percent and the Tourism Index falling 4.2 percent. The Taiex gained 1.9 percent during outgoing president Chen Shui-bian's eight years, lagging behind a 35 percent advance in the MSCI Asia-Pacific index. - See Ma, New Taiwan President, Calls On China to Embrace Democracy for the full article.
China to Shut Mines, Oil Wells, Plants, After Quake
Tuesday, May 13, 2008, 01:41 PM - Asia
China ordered coal mines, chemical plants and oil and gas wells to halt production to avoid further casualties after the country's strongest earthquake in 58 years killed more than 12,000 people.
Companies in affected areas must evacuate workers and can't resume output until conditions allow for safe operations, the Beijing-based State Administration of Work Safety said on its Web site today. Sichuan province, where yesterday's 7.9 magnitude temblor struck, holds about 40 percent of China's natural gas reserves and accounted for 22 percent of its output in 2006.
The earthquake damaged power plants and transmission lines and may cut the nation's energy demand. The State Electricity Regulatory Commission, China's power industry regulator, today ordered ``24-hour'' monitoring at generation and distribution networks and asked utilities to report accidents immediately.
``This earthquake in China may impact demand from power plants being down,'' Phil Flynn, a senior trader at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago, said in a telephone interview. ``Demand for oil was already down in April.''
Chinese oil imports, the world's third-biggest, fell for the first time in 18 months in April as record crude prices discouraged refiners from purchasing oil to turn into fuel for sale below cost. Oil for June delivery rose to a record $126.98 a barrel today.
Electricity Grid
State Grid Corp. of China, the nation's largest electricity distributor, said it has started repairs after about 5.5 gigawatts, almost 1 percent of China's generation capacity, were idled in Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces because plants were disconnected from the national network. - See China to Shut Mines, Oil Wells, Plants, After Quake for the full report.
Kim Jong-il builds ‘Thunderbirds’ runway for war in North Korea
Saturday, April 26, 2008, 04:55 PM - Asia
North Korean military engineers are completing an underground runway beneath a mountain that can protect fighter aircraft from attack until they take off at high speed through the mouth of a tunnel.
The 6,000ft runway is a few minutes’ flying time from the tense front line where the Korean People’s Army faces soldiers from the United States and South Korea.
The project was identified by an air force defector from North Korea and captured on a satellite image by Google Earth, according to reports in the South Korean press last week.
It is one of three underground fighter bases among an elaborate subterranean military infrastructure built to withstand a “shock and awe” assault in the first moments of a war, the defector said.
The runway, reminiscent of the Thunderbirds television series, highlights the strange and secretive nature of the regime that provided the expertise for a partially built nuclear reactor in Syria, film of which was released by the CIA last week.
The reactor was destroyed by Israeli aircraft last September in an operation that may have killed or injured North Koreans at the site in the remote deserts of eastern Syria. - See Kim Jong-il builds ‘Thunderbirds’ runway for war in North Korea for the full report.
China Plans to Meet Envoy of Tibet's Dalai Lama
Friday, April 25, 2008, 01:54 PM - Asia
The Chinese government will hold talks with a representative of the Dalai Lama, the official Xinhua news agency reported today. The U.S. and European governments welcomed the news as a way to ease tensions over Tibet.
``In view of the requests repeatedly made by the Dalai side for resuming talks, the relevant department of the central government will have contact and consultation with Dalai's private representative in the coming days,'' an unidentified official was quoted by Xinhua as saying.
China's decision to meet with a representative of Tibet's spiritual leader may break a deadlock after riots there last month prompted global protests over Chinese rule of the territory.
The Chinese government previously blamed the Dalai Lama for triggering last month the biggest protests in Tibet in almost 20 years. Protesters from Paris to San Francisco have targeted the Olympic torch relay leading up to the Beijing Games in August. The last discussions between representatives of China and the Tibetan government-in-exile took place in July 2007.
``The Chinese authorities understand that the world is watching,'' said Joseph Cheng, a professor of politics at City University of Hong Kong. ``It will certainly help to defuse a lot of criticism of China.'' He said the danger is that China will treat the talks as a public-relations exercise.
The Dalai Lama ``feels that this is a positive step in the right direction,'' Tenzin Taklha, a spokesman for the Tibetan spiritual leader, said in a phone interview from Dharamsala in northern India before Xinhua announced the Chinese decision. - See China Plans to Meet Envoy of Tibet's Dalai Lama for the full report.
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