Northeast Asia Geostrategic Forum

[ahojunk]

Alliance with U.S. is becoming Japan's burden
2016-12-18 08:35 | Xinhua | Editor: Mo Hong'e

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attend a joint
press conference at Abe's official residence in Tokyo, Japan, Dec. 16, 2016. (Photo/Xinhua)​

The summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wrapped up in Tokyo on Friday with some agreements on economic cooperation, but no breakthrough on the territorial issue that Japan had craved for.

At a joint press conference with Abe, Putin stressed that the issue of the disputed territories (called the Southern Kurils by Russia and the Northern Territories by Japan) is the outcome of World War II, and implied that the U.S.-Japan alliance is an impediment to a solution.

The islets and surrounding waters are important for the Russian navy's access to the Pacific, while Russia has to consider Japan's special ties with the United States, said Putin.

Putin's remarks meant something as Japanese officials had said before Putin's visit that Japan did not rule out the possibility of the deployment of two U.S. military bases on two of the four disputed islands in the future.

Actually, the United States began to impede reconciliation between Japan and the Soviet Union shortly after the end of World War II. It threatened to take Japan's Okinawa permanently if Japan reconciled with the Soviet Union.

In some sense, the non-reciprocal alliance between the United States and Japan is turning into Japan's burden. The more the Abe government does in strengthening the alliance, the smaller room for Japan's diplomacy.

On Tuesday, a U.S. Osprey aircraft crash-landed off Okinawa. When local authorities lodged a protest, angry Gen. Lawrence Nicholson, the top U.S. military commander in Okinawa, said locals should appreciate U.S. pilots' move to keep the crash-landing away from residential areas.

Although local residents frequently staged protests and called for banning the operation of Osprey aircraft, the U.S. military soon announced the resumption of the flights of Osprey, totally ignoring local resentment.

During the recent U.S. presidential election, Japanese diplomacy's excessive reliance on the U.S.-Japan alliance was completely exposed.

At the very beginning, the Abe government betted on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, and he flew to New York to meet her in September. Yet, after the election, Abe again immediately rushed to New York to flatter President-elect Donald Trump.

All of Japan's policies against its neighbors, including Russia, China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and South Korea, are heavily subject to U.S. global strategies.

The reason why Abe performs teeter-totter in diplomacy is that he could not climb out of the "tender trap" of the U.S.-Japan alliance.

 

[TaiShang]

Why is Northeast Asia fraught with uncertainties?
(China Daily) 09:12, December 21, 2016

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R), Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (L) and South Korean President Park Geun-hye attend the sixth China-Japan-South Korea leaders' meeting in the South Korean capital of Seoul, Nov 1, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

For China-Japan-Republic of Korea relations, arguably the most important trilateral relationship in the region, this year has not been good. The recent impeachment of ROK President Park Geun-hye, besides dealing a heavy blow to her political career, has delayed the trilateral leadership meeting that was originally scheduled for the end of 2016.

Things started getting more complicated after Seoul allowed Washington to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system on the ROK soil, which Beijing is vehemently opposed to. While Seoul's decision on THAAD has further strained China-ROK ties, the ongoing political drama in the ROK is not at all conducive to rebuilding trust among the three neighbors.

China-Japan relations have not seen any improvement either. Instead, they have become more strained after Tokyo sought to meddle in and play up the South China Sea disputes between China and some ASEAN member states. And by scrambling its fighter jets after Chinese air force planes had passed through Miyako Strait recently, Japan has added a grave twist to the already strained bilateral ties.

Add to all the unexpected twists in ROK-Japan relations and you get a picture of a region full of uncertain-ties. At the end of last year, Seoul and Tokyo agreed to settle their long-standing differences over Korean "comfort women", a misnomer for women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army before and during World War II. Less than a month ago, they signed an agreement to share military intelligence.

The high point of trilateral cooperation (and probably the only one) this year has been the first Trilateral High-Level Dialogue on the Arctic in Seoul in April. Increasing security-oriented frictions, along with disputes left behind by history, ideological differences, and clashes over national interests, have thwarted the three countries from seeking common ground.

Because of stalled high-level communications and escalating tensions, strategic mutual trust appears to have suffered the most in the trilateral relationship. That Japan and the ROK are cooperating more closely with the United States in military and economic matters is a case in point.

The simmering tensions in Northeast Asia reflect the major changes in the regional security situation. Since taking office in 2012, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been relentlessly building up Japan's armed forces after reclaiming the right to collective defense by muscling through constitutional revisions in parliament. He has also continued to intensify defense cooperation with the US in pursuit of making Japan "a normal state".

Abe is scheduled to visit Pearl Harbor with US President Barack Obama on Dec 26, which will make him the first sitting Japanese leader since the end of World War II to do so.

Japan has to realize that full reconciliation among Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo is unlikely unless it truly faces up to its past. Abe has neither visited Nanjing, where more than 300,000 Chinese were massacred by the invading Imperial Japanese Army from December 1937 to January 1938, nor has he apologized to the Chinese people for the atrocities they suffered under the occupying Japanese forces. And this is what makes Abe's intentions, including the reason behind visiting Pearl Harbor, highly suspicious.

Japan-ROK ties have indeed been improving not because of deepening mutual trust but because of the Obama administration's "rebalancing" to the Asia-Pacific strategy and the deployment of THAAD, which makes them feel more secure.

But if Japan and the ROK continue to excessively lean on the US' shoulders, they would thwart future negotiations on a China-Japan-ROK free trade agreement, a possible game-changer in trilateral ties. So whether the three neighbors can fix their problems will largely depend on the importance they attach to the trilateral relationship. The resumption of trilateral leadership meetings will signify that importance.

The author is a researcher at China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations. The article is an excerpt from her interview with China Daily's Cui Shoufeng.

 

[ahojunk]

Transfer of power in ROK to cause dramatic change in diplomacy, DPRK policy
2016-12-21 10:23 | Editor: Mo Hong'e

Transfer in the Republic of Korea (ROK) of presidential power from the ruling bloc to the opposition is expected to cause a dramatic change in the country's diplomacy and policy toward the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), experts said.

"Depending on who is elected in (next) presidential election, (South) Korea's foreign policy will obviously get different (in consequence)," Go Myong-hyun, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, said in an interview with Xinhua on Tuesday.

Moon Jae-in, former chairman of the biggest opposition Minjoo Party who is now the frontrunner in recent presidential polls, is forecast to consider the re-opening of the Kaesong Industrial Complex if he is elected, the expert on security and diplomacy said.

The inter-Korean factory park in the DPRK's border town of Kaesong was unilaterally shut down by South Korea in retaliation for Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test in January and the launch in February of a long-range rocket, which Seoul saw as a disguised test of a long-range missile.

Moon is former chief of staff to late President Roh Moo-hyun who had inherited a "sunshine policy," or rapprochement approach to its northern neighbor, from his predecessor late President Kim Dae-jung. Both Roh and Kim held summit talks with late DPRK leader Kim Jong Il.

ROK President Park Geun-hye and his predecessor President Lee Myung-bak adopted a so-called "strategic patience" on the DPRK's nuclear issue, which had done little to encourage Pyongyang to return to a dialogue table and had used pressures and sanctions alone.

Early presidential race is expected to come as President Park was impeached on Dec. 9 in the parliament with an overwhelming support. The constitutional court has up to 180 days to deliberate, and a presidential election must be held within 60 days if the impeachment is justified.

The transfer of power to the opposition bloc could bring about not a few alterations in the country's foreign and security policies as ruling and opposition parties approach those issues from different perspectives.

If the ruling bloc wins back the presidency, there would be no big transformation in South Korea's DPRK policy, said the research fellow who forecast the inter-Korean relations would be a big issue in the upcoming presidential race.

Conservative voters here traditionally favor a hard-line policy toward the DPRK, while liberal voters tend to support the sunshine policy to defuse tensions on the Korean Peninsula and increase exchanges and cooperation between the two Koreas.

The opposition bloc, the expert said, has made out its case for the re-examination or the stop of the deployment of a U.S. missile shield in South Korean soil, the signing of the military intelligence pact with Japan and the agreement with Japan on comfort women victims.

He advised the next ROK administration to consider both positions of China opposing to the THAAD deployment as well as of the United States and Japan which are concerned about the re-examination of their agreements with the ROK.

Under the Park Geun-hye administration, Seoul and Washington announced their plan in July to install one Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in southeastern South Korea by the end of next year despite strong oppositions from China and Russia.

The ROK signed the accord with Japan on Nov. 23 to exchange military intelligence on the DPRK's nuclear and missile programs despite strong objections here to such deal with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe-led cabinet which has yet to apologize for past brutalities during its 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula.

Seoul also reached a "final and irreversible" agreement last December with Tokyo on the victims of comfort women, a euphemism for Korean women who were lured or forced into sexual slavery for the Imperial Japan's military brothels before and during the World War .

The frail comfort women victims and advocate groups have held a rally every Wednesday in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul to protest against the agreement and demand Japan's sincere apology and its acknowledgement of legal responsibility.

WHO IS LIEKLY TO BE ELECTED AS PRESIDENT

Given that the scandal involving President Park destroyed support for the conservative bloc, a candidate from opposition parties is highly likely to be elected as next South Korean president, said Jang Seok-joon, vice president of the minor opposition Justice Party's Future Politics Center.

Former Minjoo Party chief Moon Jae-in, a runner-up to Park in the 2012 presidential election, has ranked first in recent presidential surveys since the presidential scandal erupted in October.

Moon is a safe choice for voters, the political expert said, as he is now the frontrunner of the biggest opposition party amid higher possibility for presidential power to be transferred to the opposition bloc.

If Moon becomes a winner in the Minjoo Party's primary, he will garner more support from liberal voters in their protest vote against the ruling Saenuri Party, Jang predicted.

Jang, however, cast doubts on whether Moon can expand his support base further because of his longtime exposure to searing criticism from political enemies and conservative media outlets that resulted in widespread public opinion against him.

Moon was trailed by outgoing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, whose two, five-year terms are set to end by the end of this year. The career diplomat has never officially declared his run for president, but he has been seen as hope for conservative voters in the absence of powerful presidential contenders in the ruling bloc.

The expert on politics said Ban emerged as the only remaining choice in the conservative bloc as there is no other notable alternative from the ruling Saenuri Party, of which popularity was almost ruined by the impeached president.

Ban would not become the Saenuri Party's candidate, the expert predicted. Instead, Ban is expected to join either a new political party, which may be created by the Saenuri's anti-Park faction, or a so-called "third playing field" where non-mainstreamers from both ruling and opposition blocs compete to field a single candidate.

The absence of experience in domestic politics was cited as Ban's weakest point in running for president. The expert said that if the Minjoo Party puts forward a single candidate via primary, divided support among separate contenders will be centered on the single choice amid surging wish for transfer of power to the opposition bloc.

Lee Jae-myung of the Minjoo Party, mayor of Seongnam, a city to the southeast of capital Seoul, made a meteoric rise in recent surveys, moving into a third place for his active participation in candlelight vigils and his popular social welfare services including free postnatal care to new mothers, free school uniforms to secondary school students and cash handouts to all of the 24-year-old youths.

Mayor Lee, the expert said, has recently done the most talented performance as he aggressively sought to represent the public fury in candlelit vigils over the Park Geun-hye administration in contrast to Moon Jae-in who initially took cautious stance on the weekend protest rallies.

In addition to his political competence, Lee has proven his administrative capability as Seongnam mayor through progressive social welfare policies, which can broaden his appeal to traditionally conservative voters, said the expert who described Mayor Lee as a dark horse in the early presidential race.

Ahn Cheol-soo of the minor opposition People's Party came in fourth in presidential surveys. Ahn, the rising star in the 2012 election who withdrew his presidency to throw his support behind Moon, defected from the Minjoo Party and created the People's Party in February this year to take his own line.

The political commentator said Ahn suffered from relatively heavy damages from the impeachment as public support tends to be cut into two extremes under a political instability, noting that his party was launched as an alternative political power separately from both Saenuri and Minjoo parties.

Ahn represented public wish for new politics in the 2012 presidential election, but he has currently become one of the established politicians who cannot stir up a "new wind" in the political arena any more, said the expert.

 

[TaiShang]

Chinese naval aviation forces conduct drill in Sea of Japan
Xinhua, January 10, 2017

Chinese naval aviation forces on Monday carried out a drill in the Sea of Japan, a spokesperson with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy said Tuesday.

Liang Yang said the drill, testing the coordination between naval vessels and aircraft, was "a regular arrangement in accordance with the annual training plan."

The event did not target "any specific nation, region or objective," and was "in line with international law and practice."

 

[TaiShang]

The meetings need to be increased in frequency: two times per annum, perhaps. Otherwise, it is going to take rather long to finalize.

***

China, Japan, ROK discuss trade, investment in FTA negotiations

(Xinhua) 02:58, January 12, 2017

Delegates from China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) discussed goods and services trade and investment as they met in Beijing on Wednesday for the 11th round of trilateral free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations.

Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen led the Chinese delegation, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.

Since their launch in November 2012, China-Japan-ROK Free Trade Agreement negotiations have been carried out.

The three parties agreed that the establishment of a trilateral FTA will help give full play to their advantages, unleash the economic vitality of the three countries and boost regional prosperity and development.

In November 2015, leaders from the three nations reiterated in a joint statement that they should accelerate the FTA negotiations.

China is the largest trading partner of Japan and the ROK. The three countries, whose combined GDP accounts for around 20 percent of that of the whole world, would constitute one of the three largest economic blocs, along with the European Union and North America, both of which already have FTAs among themselves.

 

[haidian]

South Korean governor's island visit 'extremely regrettable': Japan
Wed Jan 25, 2017 | 3:44am EST

Japan on Wednesday lodged a protest with South Korea after a South Korean official visited a group of islets claimed by both countries, putting more strain on ties already damaged by the legacy of Japan's 1910-1945 rule of Korea.

The islands that lie equidistant between the two countries are called Takeshima in Japanese and Dokdo in Korean. They are controlled by South Korea and also claimed by Japan, a long-running irritant in their relations.

Kim Kwan-Yong, the governor of South Korea's Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, visited the islands early on Wednesday, "to see for himself the security conditions and to encourage the Dokdo guards", his office said in a statement.

Japan denounced the visit.

"This is totally unacceptable in light of our country's stance regarding the sovereignty over Takeshima," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a regular news conference.

"It is extremely regrettable that the visit was carried out despite our advance protests and calls for suspension. We promptly lodged a stern protest against the South Korean government and demanded prevention of recurrence."

In 2012, South Korea's then-president, Lee Myung-bak, became the first leader of his country to visit the islands.

Ties between the two counties have been plagued for decades by the legacy of Japan's occupation of the Korean peninsula and the issue of "comfort women", as those forced to work in Japanese wartime military brothels are known.

The latest flare-up in tension comes after Japan recalled its ambassador to South Korea over a statue commemorating Korean "comfort women", put up near the Japanese consulate in the South Korean city of Busan last year.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida last week denounced as "unacceptable" a reference to the islands as South Korea's "easternmost territory", on a website set up for the 2018 winter Olympics, being held in South Korea.

"Dokdo holds a special place in the hearts of Koreans," the website says.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-j...idUSKBN1590T1?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

 

[beijingwalker]

South Korea-Japan row intensifies

 

[LowPost]

Really hope China finds an adequate response to this by reasserting its interpretative authority. If you lack a viable concept to counter the corporate media narrative, you are what they say about you. Russia is setting a superb example on how to counter it in spite of all the talk about the Kremlin manipulating the US Presidential elections, facilitate social frictions in the EU by backing Eurosceptic movements etc.


Useful idiots? Japanese embassy pays British think tank to plant anti-China stories

The neoconservative Henry Jackson Society (HJS) think tank is on the payroll of the Japanese embassy, charged with drafting in public figures to spread anti-Chinese propaganda, investigators claim.

The Times’ investigation suggests the London-based HJS is paid £10,000 (US$12,500) per month to spread anti-Chinese propaganda, including through public figures like former British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind.

HJS frames itself as a pro-intervention and pro-capitalist voice, which aims to spread freedom and democracy around the world. It is run by the academic and failed Tory parliamentary candidate Alan Mendoza.

The deal between the think tank and the embassy was reportedly reached to counter the growing cooperation between the UK and China, championed by former Chancellor George Osborne.

The agreement reflects the rising tensions between China and Japan – the latter a close US ally in the Asia-Pacific region.

Rifkind confirmed to the Times over the weekend that he had been asked by HJS in August to put his name to an article called ‘How China could switch off Britain’s lights in a crisis if we let them build Hinkley C’, which criticized a UK-Chinese nuclear power station deal.

The comment piece claimed there may be a risk of a Chinese-funded power station having cyber-backdoors built into it which could present a risk to UK security.

Rifkin told the Times he had not been aware of the links between HJS and the Japanese embassy and said the think tank “ought to have informed me of that relationship when they asked me to support the article they provided. It would have been preferable if they had.”

The report indicates that HJS originally approached the Japanese embassy alongside a PR firm named Media Intelligence Partners (MIP), which is run by a former Tory PR man named Nick Wood.

The Times says it saw an early version of a proposal which would see the think-tank and PR firm develop a communications strategy for the embassy for a fee of £15,000 per month.

This, they said, would allow Japan’s concerns to be placed “on the radar of mainstream UK journalists and politicians.” It includes journalists from major papers like the Telegraph and the Guardian.

Other aims included the creation of “an engaged and interested cadre of high-level politicians” and a focus on the “threat to Western strategic interests posed by Chinese expansionism.”

The actual deal reached was for a lower figure of £10,000 plus expenses, according to the Times.

https://www.rt.com/uk/375636-henry-jackson-japan-china/


Not surprised as the organisation in question is a neocon think tank but my point still stands.

 

[TaiShang]

U.S., S.Korea defense chiefs reaffirm THAAD deployment

(Xinhua) 13:38, January 31, 2017

Defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States on Tuesday reaffirmed the bilateral agreement to deploy the U.S. missile shield, called Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), in South Korean soil.

Seoul's defense ministry said that South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo held the first telephone talks with his U.S. counterpart James Mattis, who became the first defense secretary under the Trump administration Monday.

During the dialogue, they shared security situations on the Korean Peninsula, agreeing to strengthen their defense capability against nuclear and missile threats from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and develop the bilateral alliance under severe security environment.

The defense chiefs expressed serious concerns about top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un's New Year's Day address that said Pyongyang had entered a final stage in preparations to test-launch the long-range ballistic rocket.

Han and Mattis agreed to push the THAAD installation as scheduled and beef up close cooperation in DPRK policy between defense authorities.

Seoul and Washington abruptly announced the agreement in July last year to deploy one THAAD battery in South Korea's southeastern region by the end of this year.

It caused strong oppositions from China and Russia as the THAAD's X-band radar can peer into territories of the two nations. The U.S. anti-missile shield is composed of the super microwave-emitting radar, six mobile launchers, 48 interceptors and the fire control unit.

The radar also caused a barrage of criticism from residents in Seongju county, where the THAAD is scheduled to be installed, and its nearby Gimcheon city as it is detrimental to environment and human body.

The absense of open discussions stoked parliamentary and public objections. Some of conservative voters believe that the THAAD is a cure-all to protect South Korea from the DPRK's nuclear threats, but others raise doubts over its intercepting capability and worry about escalated tensions and arms race in the region.

The THAAD is designed to shoot down incoming missiles at an altitude of 40-150 km, but most of DPRK missiles targeting South Korea fly at an altitude of less than 40 km.

The U.S. missile shield is also incapable of protecting Seoul and its suburban metropolitan area, which has more than half of the country's 50 million population.

 

[TaiShang]

Mainland mulls equal benefits for Taiwan residents

By Leng Shumei Source: Global Times Published: 2017/2/6

Taiwan residents register for the Mainland Travel Permit of Taiwan Residents (MTP) at the exit-entry administration hall of the Wutong dock in Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province, July 1, 2015. File photo: Xinhua

The Chinese mainland plans to provide Taiwan residents equal treatment, a move experts said is aimed at attracting Taiwan people under the complex cross-Straits situation and pressure Taiwan leaders who continue to refuse to recognize the one-China principle.

Beijing is mapping out new policies to provide Taiwan residents with "national treatment" in order to help them integrate into the mainland society, Hong Kong-based newspaper Ming Pao reported on Thursday.

"To be specific, the policy is aimed at treating Taiwan people the same as local residents. It is different from 'national treatment' that refers to preferential policies for foreign entities under the framework of the World Trade Organization," Wang Jianmin, a Taiwan affairs expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Monday.

Wang said Taiwan people are required to abide by the same policies as foreigners in the past due to political differences on the two sides. The new policy will make it easier for them to live and blend in the mainland.

Liu Xiangping, head of Institute of Taiwan Studies at Nanjing University, said that "the new policy will help deepen Taiwan residents' understanding of the one-China policy, laying out a basis for the reunification of the country, as well as crack down on Taiwan-independent forces."

Liu stressed that relations across the Taiwan Straits have been affected as current Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen refuses to recognize the 1992 consensus, which affirms the one-China principle.

"The move is meant to take better care of Taiwan people under the complex situation, and reflects the mainland's disappointment with the Taiwan leader," Liu said.

The policy follows an annual meeting last month of central and local officials in charge of Taiwan-related affairs.

Efforts will be made to continue unofficial exchanges and cooperation, promote economic and social integration, as well as to let the public better participate in and benefit from cross-Straits exchanges, the Xinhua News agency reported, citing a statement issued after the meeting.

More policies will be adopted to help Taiwan residents study, work, start a business and live in the mainland, and to support Taiwanese companies, the statement said.

Luring Taiwan people

East China's Fujian Province issued a regulation in 2010 to protect Taiwan people, including them in the social insurance system and giving their children priority at schools.

Fujian is 260 kilometers away from Taiwan. Trade between Fujian and Taiwan reached 69.5 billion yuan ($10 billion) in 2015, an increase of 10.3 percent from 2014, Xinhua reported.

Hsueh Ching-de, a Taiwan businessman who has been investing for over a decade in Pingtan, Fujian told the Global Times that his children have a choice of schools, while local children could only enter schools in the district where they live.

Shanghai included Taiwan people into its medical system in 2015, which states that Taiwan people who work in the city and their families can receive the same medical services as Shanghai residents, local news portal eastday.com reported.

However, Liu said that the mainland is not likely to include Taiwan people in the national medical system before it completes its own medical system reform, not to mention the gap between the two sides in healthcare.

Hong Kong-based Ming Pao Daily reported that new policies raised hopes that Taiwan people might be included in civil servant recruitment.

Taiwan authorities warned that it was illegal for Taiwan people to hold a post in the Communist Party of China, military or administrative institutions in the mainland, chinanews.com reported.

Better impression

Kevin Hwang, a 20-year-old Taiwan student at Peking University, told the Global Times on Monday that he was looking forward to buying student train tickets - which are up to 50 percent off - as mainland students do someday.

"I do not have the magnetic stripe that mainland students have on their student certificate," Kevin said.

Kevin added that the new policy would improve Taiwan people's impression of the mainland, which had been affected by the recent chilling of cross-Straits relations.

To You Wen-han, another 27-year-old Taiwan student at Peking University, who spent four months traveling in the mainland by motorbike in 2016, the biggest problem is getting accommodations.

"Taiwan people are required to live in upscale hotels for foreigners. Not many students can afford them," You said.

***

Personal note here: When I was in Shandong with my Taiwan university student ID, I was able to utilize all the benefits provided to the students in the rest of the country. I purchased museum, festival and national park tickets at a student rate like other Mainland students by simply providing my Taiwan university student ID, which other foreign visitors could not enjoy.

This policy will further integrate Taiwan into Mainland life, which is a great move. It will not possibly impress the Taiwan government but people will definitely feel much better, welcome, unified and one.

 

[JOEY TRIBIANI]

Good move. Win the heart of Taiwanese people it will automatically kick usa out of picture.

 

[neolithic]

Huawei to Open R&D Center for IoT and 5G Technologies in Tokyo

November 28, 2016

Huawei Technologies plans to set up a next-generation research base in Tokyo to deepen its collaboration with Japanese companies on IoT (Internet of Things) and 5G wireless technologies in Tokyo, reported Nikkei on November 26. The new facility will be Huawei's fourth so-called "X Labs" in the world, and the second abroad, after one in Germany. Unlike Huawei's existing R&D centers around the world, the X Labs will serve as a platform to bring together technology providers, carriers and companies from all industry verticals to jointly explore the use cases for mobile communications in different scenarios. The R&D base will open next year, aiming to strengthen partnership with SoftBank and NTT DOCOMO for 5G research, Sony for VR (Virtual Reality) technologies, as well as Toshiba and Yaskawa Electric for industrial technologies. The Tokyo R&D center will begin with 20 to 30 researchers, scaling up as development progresses, said the report.

 

[TaiShang]

Mainland welcome for Taiwan residens

Source: Xinhua | February 9, 2017, Thursday | Shanghai Daily

BEIJING is drawing up policies to support and attract Taiwan residens to work and live on the Chinese mainland, a spokesman for the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office said yesterday.

An Fengshan told a regular press briefing the policies would cover employment, social insurance and living needs, and would not only facilitate living and working on the mainland, but also aim to boost the social and economic integration of both sides of the Strait.

Asked about remarks by the Taiwan administration about island enterprises operating on the mainland, An said the mainland had always encouraged and supported Taiwan enterprises and set great store by safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests.

“We used to do it this way and we will continue to do it in the future,” said An, who added: “Who on earth is disturbing and hindering cross-Strait economic cooperation and Taiwan investment in the mainland? We must see it clearly.”

An said huge business opportunities had been created by China’s reform and opening up and Taiwan businesses would continue to be encouraged to develop on the mainland.

Commenting on a recent accident involving mainland tourists on the island, An urged Taiwan to take measures to ensure the safety of travelers.

A bus carrying 25 tourists and a tour guide from the mainland was involved in an accident in Kaohsiung, a city in southern Taiwan, on Saturday when it hit the roof of a tunnel after the driver took a wrong turn.

Of the 21 people taken to hospital, everyone, apart from the tour guide who is still being treated for his injuries, have now returned to the mainland, An said.

He said mainland authorities had been involved in dealing with the aftermath of the accident in conjunction with tourism organizations on both sides of the Strait.

The mainland, An said, was deeply saddened by a string of accidents in recent years involving mainland tourists.

In July last year, 23 tourists and a tour guide from the mainland, along with a driver and tour guide from Taiwan, were killed when their tour bus crashed into a barrier on a highway and caught fire near the island’s Taoyuan Airport.

The driver was found to have been drunk and had deliberately set the bus on fire. He had been found guilty of rape before the accident, but was free pending an appeal.

Responding to a question regarding the Taiwan Solidarity Union’s intention to invite Rebiya Kadeer, a Uygur separatist, to Taiwan next month, An said the mainland was “resolutely opposed” to the visit.

“It is a well-known fact that Rebiya Kadeer is among the heads of the separatist East Turkistan forces,” An said. “The invitation by the Taiwan independence secessionist force is intended to make trouble and will certainly harm cross-Strait relations.”

An also responded to a question about a claim by a leader of Taiwan’s New Power Party, who said Taiwan authorities would offer scholarships to Tibetans identified by Taiwan as refugees to sponsor their study on the island. An said that “our attitude is very clear, and (we) firmly oppose confusing the refugee issue with the issue of overseas Tibetan compatriots.”

 

[TaiShang]

Looks like China is intent on soft-punish Korea for its balance of power disturbing THAAD move.

Although China's MOFA denies any restrictions, there is definitely an unofficial embargo on some Korean cultural export.

This is a list of Korean dramas their access to Mainland market was blocked in 2016:

http://mt.sohu.com/it/d20170209/125869536_115207.shtml?loc=1&focus_pic=0

 

[terranMarine]

Looks like China is intent on soft-punish Korea for its balance of power disturbing THAAD move.

Although China's MOFA denies any restrictions, there is definitely an unofficial embargo on some Korean cultural export.

Lotte is already experiencing some hardships in China