Language : English 简体 繁體
Media Report
November 17 , 2017
  • USA Today reports: "China's proposal for the United States to offer concessions to North Korea in return for a freeze on its nuclear weapons program probably won't halt the North's already advanced program but it might be the best way to lessen tensions, analysts say. 'It has lost a lot of value now that North Korea has tested weapons and missiles,' said Jeffrey Lewis, an analyst at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. 'It's more about just reducing tensions.' North Korea already has an arsenal of nuclear warheads and missiles that can reach U.S. allies throughout the region. China said Thursday it is standing by its proposal, which calls for the U.S. to suspend its large military exercises with South Korea in the region in return for an agreement by North Korea to freeze its nuclear weapons program. China also said it would send a high-level envoy to Pyongyang on Friday. A day earlier President Trump claimed China had abandoned the proposal and, instead, agreed with the U.S. position that North Korea would have to abandon its nuclear program before getting any American concessions. The conflicting statements reflect confusion in Washington over how to handle North Korea and its secretive leader, Kim Jong Un. Trump has said Chinese pressure exerted on its heavily-dependent ally is central to U.S. policy toward the North. North Korea has gone two months without test firing a missile, the longest such dry spell this year. The lull follows a record 15 missile tests in 2017. It also detonated a powerful hydrogen bomb for the first time in a test in September."
  • CNBC reports: "Western countries are trying to push their culture and political values onto others, seducing them into abandoning their own, China's propaganda chief warned on Friday, saying the country must follow its own path. Chinese President Xi Jinping has overseen a sweeping crackdown against civil society since assuming office five years ago, tightening control over society, media and the internet. Xi has pledged to promote what the ruling Communist Party refers to as core socialist values, which stress patriotism, Chinese traditional culture, rule of law, harmony and prosperity among others. Huang Kunming, who was appointed to the post following last month's key party congress at which Xi further cemented his grip on power, wrote in the official People's Daily that there was an intensifying 'surge and collision' in the world between different values. 'There are especially some Western countries who use their technological advantages and dominance of discourse that they have accumulated over a long period to peddle so-called 'universal values',' he wrote. Such countries, which Huang did not name, 'are trying to seduce people into 'beautifying the West' and 'being compliant with the West,' weakening or even abandoning their identification with their own spiritual culture,' he added. China's special cultural traditions, unique historical destiny and national situation mean it has to protect its own values rooted in its culture, Huang said."
  • Foreign Policy comments: "The governments of China and South Korea recently announced an understanding to improve bilateral relations. What appears to be a classic diplomatic fudge — let's agree to disagree and move on — actually represents a course correction in Chinese foreign policy and raises questions for international efforts to arrest North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. The understanding shelves a yearlong dispute over the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system in South Korea known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD). The United States and South Korea agreed in 2016 to deploy THAAD in response to the North Korean missile threat. Beijing objected that the system's powerful radar and advanced interceptors could compromise China's missile capabilities. Chinese policymakers were also suspicious that THAAD could be the first step toward a more sophisticated multilateral missile defense system designed to 'contain China.' In an effort to prevent, delay, and reverse THAAD deployment, China waged an economic and diplomatic pressure campaign against South Korea. Chinese counterparts canceled various governmental meetings and people-people exchanges. An unofficial boycott of Korean pop culture, cosmetics, and tourism cost the South Korean economy billions of dollars in revenue and was beginning to affect autos and other industries. Chinese media regularly berated the South Korean government, elevating THAAD to a 'sovereignty' issue on which China could not compromise. Despite all this, the two countries were able to find a way forward. In part, this is because the administration of South Korean President Moon Jae-in has explicitly sought to improve relations with China since taking office in May. In response to Chinese concerns, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said on Oct. 30 during testimony at the National Assembly that South Korea's trilateral security cooperation with the United States and Japan 'will not develop into a trilateral military alliance.' The Moon government also suggested that it has no intention of welcoming the deployment of additional THAAD batteries or of building a regional missile defense network with Japan and the United States."
News
Commentary
Back to Top