Hong Kong police searched and detained scores of people on Sunday, including four arrested for “seditious” intent, as authorities tightened security for the 34th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Restrictions in Hong Kong have stifled what were once the largest vigils marking the anniversary of the bloody crackdown by Chinese troops on pro-democracy demonstrators, leaving cities like Taipei, London, New York and Berlin to keep the memory of June 4 alive.
Near Victoria Park, the previous site of yearly vigils, hundreds of police conducted stop and search operations, and deployed armored vehicles and police vans. And in Victoria Park itself, pro-China groups held a carnival featuring games, music and products from across China.
In Beijing, Tiananmen Square was thronged with tourists taking pictures under the watchful eye of police and other personnel but with no obvious sign of stepped-up security.
In democratically governed Taiwan, the last remaining part of the Chinese-speaking world where the anniversary can be marked freely, hundreds attended a memorial at Taipei’s Liberty Square where a “Pillar of Shame” statue was displayed.
China’s defense minister said at a major regional security forum on Sunday that Beijing seeks dialogue over confrontation, hours after a Chinese warship was accused of nearly hitting a U.S. destroyer in the Taiwan Strait.
General Li Shangfu said at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore that China’s leader Xi Jinping proposed a set of so-called Global Security Initiatives (GSI) which features “dialogue over confrontation, partnership over alliance and win-win over zero sum.”
In an apparent reference to the U.S., Li accused “some country” of taking a “selective approach to rules and international laws,” and “forcing its own rules on others.”
“It practises exceptionalism and double standards and only serves the interests and follows the rules of a small number of countries.”
The minister said it “even attempts to constrain others with a convention itself has not acceded to,” pointing to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1982 that the United States, while recognizing it, is not a party of.
The U.S. and China have been at loggerheads over a number of issues, among them China’s excessive claims in the South China Sea and the U.S. ‘s freedom of navigation operations (FONOP) to uphold its principle of a free and open Indo-Pacific.
China has repeatedly accused the U.S. of “navigation hegemony” in the South China Sea.
The U.S. military meanwhile said that a Chinese warship on Saturday came close to hitting an American destroyer when the latter was sailing through the Taiwan Strait during a joint Canada-U.S. mission.
Near-collision
The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that its guided-missile destroyer USS Chung-Hoon and Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Montreal were conducting a “routine Taiwan Strait transit” through international waters in the Strait.
During the transit a Chinese Navy destroyer “executed maneuvers in an unsafe manner in the vicinity of Chung-Hoon,” it said, adding that the Chinese ship “overtook Chung-Hoon on their port side and crossed their bow at 150 yards (140 meters).”
“Chung-Hoon maintained course and slowed to 10 knots to avoid a collision.”
The Indo-Pacific Command said that China’s actions violated the maritime ‘Rules of the Road’ of safe passage in international waters “where aircraft and ships of all nations may fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows.”
China’s Ministry of National Defense claimed the Chinese ship handled the situation “lawfully and professionally” but analysts said they found the event “disturbing” and “probably the worst such reported close maritime encounter in the South China Sea since October 2018,” when a Chinese warship approached the USS Decatur within just 45 yards (41 meters).
“China is getting reckless while trying to enforce sovereignty in the Taiwan Strait,” said Richard Bitzinger, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
“Beijing is just trying to force everyone to accept the idea that Taiwan Straits are somehow China’s de facto territorial waters,” the military analyst told RFA.
The Canadian Navy’s HMCS Montreal conducted a routine transit through the Taiwan Strait with U.S. Navy destroyer USS Chung-Hoon, June 3, 2023. Credit: Canadian Armed Forces
Minister Li Shangfu told the audience at the Shangri-La Dialogue that the U.S. ships are in the region “for provocation.”
“What is key now is that we must prevent attempts to use freedom of navigation … as a pretext to exercise hegemony of navigation,” he said.
Taiwanese military analysts said that the Saturday transit was a routine operation but the Chinese Navy’s reaction indicated a more resolute stance.
“As President Xi Jinping had instructed, senior officials and military leaders should take a tough stance against challenges rather than showing a soft behavior that can be seen as weak,” said Shen Ming-shih, Acting Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research.
“That’s what the Chinese Defense Minister demonstrated in his speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue,” Shen said.
Military expert Richard Bitzinger said the reason behind this approach may be that “the Chinese are worried that they have a narrow and closing window to exert themselves before the economy tanks and demographics catch up with them.”
Using risks as weapons
The Chinese minister of defense in his speech lambasted the U.S.’s Cold War mentality, accused Washington of “expanding military bases, re-enforcing military presence and intensifying arms race in the region” – those actions that reflect its “desire to make enemy, stoke confrontation, fuel the fire and fish in troubled waters.”
Li also accused the U.S. of “wilfully interfering in the internal affairs of others,” referring to the issue of Taiwan which he said was “core of China’s core interests.”
The U.S. and China should seek common ground “grow bilateral ties and deepen cooperation,” he said.
“International affairs should be handled through confrontation,” the minister said, insisting that China is always “seeking consensus, promoting reconciliation and negotiations.”
Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu delivers his speech on the last day of the Shangri-La Dialogue, in Singapore, June 4, 2023. Credit: AP Photo/Vincent Thian
A day earlier, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he was “deeply concerned” that Beijing has been unwilling to engage with Washington and refused to hold direct bilateral talks.
“The Chinese minister’s speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue and the dangerous action of its warships in the Taiwan Strait are part of the strategy that I’d call ‘riskfare’, which plays on the concerns of the U.S. and other countries for risks,” said Alexandre Vuving, a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii.
“The U.S. emphasizes communication, but China emphasizes risks and is using risk as a weapon in its struggle with the U.S.,” he said. “Washington shows it’s concerned about risks in its competition with Beijing. Beijing sees it and weaponizes this U.S. concern.”
The U.S.’s willingness to reopen communications with China is genuine and some analysts believe that, despite the absence of direct contacts between the U.S. and Chinese delegations in Singapore, there are hopes for closer interactions.
Baohui Zhang, director of the Centre for Asian Pacific Studies at Lingnan University in Hong Kong, told RFA that the “communication” issue in U.S.-China relations has been somewhat exaggerated.
“The truth is that the two sides are communicating with each other,” Zhang said, noting that the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency William Burns reportedly paid a secret visit to China last month.
Jake Sullivan, the top U.S. national security official, also met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in May. The trade ministers of the two countries have also met.
“My own view is that both sides appreciate the importance of maintaining dialogues to prevent misunderstanding and inadvertent crisis situations,” said the analyst.
“Neither side wants war and they still maintain sufficient dialogues with each other,” he said.
The U.S. State Department announced on Saturday that Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink is travelling to China on Sunday.
“In Beijing, Assistant Secretary Kritenbrink, joined by National Security Council Senior Director for China and Taiwan Affairs Sarah Beran, will discuss key issues in the bilateral relationship,” it said.
The 20th Shangri-La Dialogue, the region’s leading security forum hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), closes on Sunday.
Nearly 550 South Korean bio companies plan to take part in the Bio International Convention to be held in the United States this week to expand their global presence and boost technology cooperation with industry peers, Seoul’s industry ministry said Sunday.
The world’s largest partnering event in the sector will be held from June 5-8 (local time) in Boston, which will bring together some 9,100 biotech and pharmaceutical companies firms from 85 nations to give them a chance to learn from and network with partner firms, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
A total of 544 South Korean bio companies will attend the event, which is the largest ever figure and sharply up from last year’s 255 entities.
Samsung Biologics Co., Celltrion Inc. and other major South Korean drug firms will set up their own booths to showcase major technologies and products, it added.
On the sidelines of the event, the ministry is scheduled to hold a bio roundtable meeting Wednesday, where major South Korean and U.S. bio firms will explore ways to cooperate on stable supply chains and advanced technologies.
The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency and the country’s bio association will also host a partnership event Wednesday, where Moderna co-founder Robert Langer will have talks on the prospects of South Korea’s biotechnologies, the ministry said.
South Korea’s defense ministry on Sunday dismissed as untrue a claim by the European Union’s top diplomat that he and Seoul’s defense minister discussed Ukraine’s need for ammunition in the ongoing war against Russia.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, tweeted the claim after his talks with Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual security conference in Singapore, on Saturday.
“The claim that discussions on ammunition support for Ukraine were held is not true,” the ministry said in a message sent to reporters. “While mentioning the need for various weapons systems and other forms of support to improve the situation in Ukraine, the EU side expressed its unilateral stance on the importance of (the provision of) ammunition.”
The ministry added that ammunition support for Ukraine was not an official agenda item during the bilateral talks.
Seoul has maintained a policy stance against the provision of lethal weapons to Ukraine, though it has offered non-lethal humanitarian support to the war-torn nation.
More than 3 out of 10 South Korean senior citizens work low-wage jobs after retirement to help cover their living costs, and their poverty rate still remains high among the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a report showed Sunday.
The employment rate among those aged 65 and older came to 34.9 percent in 2021, the highest among the OECD member nations, according to a report by Bank of Korea official Oh Tae-hee and Lee Jang-youn, a professor at Incheon National University.
As many seniors have been forced to land low-paying jobs, the average monthly wage for workers aged 68 came to 1.8 million won (US$1,374) last year, far smaller than 3.11 million won for those aged 58.
About 25 percent of South Koreans in their mid-70s had a job, and they earned 1.39 million won per month on average, the report showed.
In 2020, the poverty rate among South Korea’s elderly citizens stood at 40.4 percent, the highest among OECD member nations.
The country’s relative poverty rate among the age bracket also came to 38.9 percent, which refers to the percentage of people living with an income below 50 percent of the median income, according to the report.
The authors warned that the poverty issue among senior citizens could worsen, as the rate of people aged 65 and older is expected to reach 46.4 percent in 2070 from last year’s 17.5 percent.
South Korea became an aged society in 2017, in which the percentage of those aged 65 and older exceeded 14 percent of its population. The country is widely expected to become a super-aged society in 2025, when the percentage of the elderly will top 20 percent.
South Koreans’ average life expectancy came to 86 years in 2021, compared with 72 years in 1991, according to government data.
The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Sunday lambasted last week’s meeting of the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) on the country’s recent failed space rocket launch as “the most unfair and biased act of interfering in internal affairs.”
In a statement carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim Yo-jong expressed displeasure over Friday’s open UNSC briefing, stressing the North will continue to exercise “all the lawful rights” as a sovereign state, including one to launch satellites.
The North launched what it claimed to be a satellite-carrying rocket Wednesday, but it fell into the Yellow Sea following an abnormal flight, according to the South Korean military. The U.S. and other nations called the launch a breach of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions. North Korea is banned from any use of ballistic missile technology under U.N. resolutions.
“I am very unpleased that the UNSC so often calls to account the DPRK’s exercise of its rights as a sovereign state at the request of the U.S., and bitterly condemn and reject it as the most unfair and biased act of interfering in its internal affairs and violating its sovereignty,” Kim said, referring to her country by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Kim, a vice department director of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Committee, argued the meeting was held at the U.S. “gangster-like” request to take issue with a sovereign state’s right to space development.
“This should be regarded as an insult to and serious distortion of the spirit of the UN Charter and as a deliberate delinquency in the genuine mission of the organization,” she said.
She also called attention to various countries launching and operating satellites in a move to defend the North’s space launch attempt.
“It is today’s universal reality that over 5,000 satellites with various aims and missions are now in their orbits around the Earth and even private companies are taking an active part in the space development,” she said. “This being a hard reality, the UNSC is continuously taking discriminative and rude action to take issue with only the launch of a satellite by the DPRK.”
Kim added that the recalcitrant regime will continue to take “proactive” measures to exercise “all the lawful rights of a sovereign state,” including the launch of a military reconnaissance satellite.
Meanwhile, Kim Myong Chol, a North Korean international affairs analyst, criticized the adoption by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) of its first-ever resolution condemning North Korean missile launches.
Adopted at the 107th session of the IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) in London on Wednesday (local time), the resolution denounced the launches as a serious threat to the safety of international navigation and urged compliance with due regulations, including giving prior notice ahead of any missile tests.
The North Korean analyst claimed the IMO has been reduced to a “tool moving under the control of the White House,” while hinting that the North may not notify the organization of future launches.
“This goes to prove that IMO has been completely politicized, abandoning its original mission of promoting international cooperation in the field of maritime security,” he said in an article carried by the KCNA.
He defended the launch as an exercise of the North’s sovereign right for self-defense to protect the country and its people from “ever-more reckless military hostile acts of the U.S. and its vassal forces.”
“As IMO responded to the DPRK’s advance notice on its satellite launch with the adoption of an anti-DPRK “resolution”, we will regard this as its official manifestation of stand that the DPRK’s advance notice is no longer necessary,” he said.
“In the future, IMO should know and take measures by itself over the period of the DPRK’s satellite launch and the impact point of its carrier and be prepared for taking full responsibility for all the consequences to be entailed from it.”
