Axis of Evil

China, North Korea: 2 repressive systems, 2 prisoners, 2 deaths
By Ken Moritsugu

This combination of file photos shows Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, left, in Beijing on Jan. 6, 2008, and American student Otto Warmbier in Pyongyang on Feb. 29, 2016. North Korea released Warmbier in mid-June in a coma. Imprisoned Chinese democracy activist Liu was diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer and transferred to a hospital. Both men have died. The two authoritarian governments made their own internal calculations about how best to deal with the situations, in seeming disregard of international pressure and public opinion.

TOKYO — Two prisoners locked away by two repressive systems, their conditions largely unknown. When the news did come, it was sudden and bad.
North Korea released 22-year-old American student Otto Warmbier in mid-June after 17 months in detention, but in a coma. 

He died a week later at a hospital in Ohio. 

Later the same month, Chinese authorities said 61-year-old democracy activist Liu Xiaobo had been diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer and transferred from prison to a hospital. 

He died Thursday.
Both countries made their own internal calculations about how best to deal with the situations, in seeming disregard of international pressure and public opinion. 

The cases of Liu and Warmbier illustrate the lengths to which the two authoritarian governments go to control information, more so in North Korea but still markedly so in China. 

In both countries, the overriding objective is clear: survival of the ruling party.

___
AN AMERICAN IN NORTH KOREA
The world may never learn what happened to Otto Warmbier.
North Korea’s media doesn’t pretend to be objective. 

It is government-controlled, and judging by its content, its main purpose is to boost the ruling Workers’ Party and the Kim family regime that is now in its third generation of leadership.
What’s known is Warmbier was detained at Pyongyang’s airport on Jan. 2, 2016, at the end of a group tour to North Korea. 

Two months later, the University of Virginia student appeared before media in Pyongyang, bowing deeply and tearfully apologizing for what he said was an attempt to steal a North Korean political banner from a hotel. 

Soon after, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor.
More than a year later came the surprise announcement that he was being released, but in a coma. 

His limp body could be seen being carried off a small plane at night at an airport in Cincinnati, Ohio.
It was far from the usual ending to the arrest of an American in North Korea. 

The U.S. government has accused North Korea of using American detainees as political pawns; in the past, they have been released after senior U.S. officials or statesmen came to bail them out.
“One of the de facto ground rules was the hostage gets returned in generally OK health,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch. 

“Warmbier’s case broke that mold and has generated more questions than answers.”
His family was told he fell into a coma soon after his March 2016 sentencing. 

Doctors who examined him in the U.S. said he had “severe neurological injury” but couldn’t determine the cause.
As speculation swirled, North Korea remained silent. 

Three days after he died, the state news agency distributed a lengthy statement from North Korea’s Foreign Ministry defending its treatment of him. 

It said he had received medical care on a humanitarian basis and accused the U.S. of a smear campaign. 

No details were provided about what actually happened.
___
CHINA’S “WORST NIGHTMARE”
China went to great lengths to shut Liu Xiaobo up. 

He was, after all, one of the most articulate advocates for democracy in his country, a potential threat to Communist Party rule.
His wife was placed under house arrest and security officers blocked media from trying to visit her. Journalists and friends were unable to find him at the hospital where he was being treated. 

Questions asked about him at the daily Foreign Ministry news briefings were scrubbed out of published transcripts.
Bits of information leaked out through friends, including a video call with his wife, sobbing about his dire prognosis before he died.
As word got out, China made at least a cursory stab at transparency, saying that Liu had been diagnosed with cancer on May 23 and sent to a hospital on medical parole. 

China has opened up considerably in the decades since the days of former leader Mao Zedong, and unlike North Korea, it actively tried to manage the message at the end with regular medical updates.
When confronted with demands that Liu, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, be released and allowed to travel overseas for treatment, though, the Foreign Ministry responded with a familiar refrain: that outsiders should not “interfere in China’s domestic affairs.”
China released high-profile dissidents on medical grounds in the 1990s, immediately exiling them to the U.S. 

The current government of Xi Jinping has turned considerably tougher, forbidding many of its critics to travel abroad while it pursues a sweeping campaign against dissent.
“This kind of leader is their worst nightmare,” Yang Jianli, a dissident in exile in the U.S., said of Liu. 

“My guess is they will continue further tightening the society ... so that they can prevent another Liu Xiaobo from emerging.”

Sina Delenda Est

China’s Ignoble Treatment of a Nobel Laureate
By CHEN GUANGCHENG

Protesters holding portraits of Liu Xiaobo at a demonstration in Hong Kong on Saturday.

One of my countrymen, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, has been imprisoned for eight years for the crime of drafting Charter 08, a political manifesto calling for democracy in China.
Now, the 61-year-old intellectual and literary critic has liver cancer — and the Chinese authorities are refusing to allow him to travel to the United States for medical treatment. 

If Mr. Liu’s incarceration for “inciting subversion of state power” was appalling, the way China has handled Mr. Liu’s illness should give pause to any government or business seeking to form closer ties with Beijing.
No lawyer or independent medical professional has been allowed to see Mr. Liu since his diagnosis. This is particularly troubling given that Reuters recently reported that Mr. Liu’s “time is limited” because of a fluid buildup around his stomach. 

Mr. Liu’s wife, Liu Xia, herself under house arrest, was allowed to see her husband in the hospital, but only under the close watch of guards. 

In the meantime, the Chinese authorities released a preposterous video in which a figure purported to be Mr. Liu exercises and undergoes “routine medical exams.”
But Mr. Liu’s treatment is anything but routine, as indicated by his release from prison on medical parole and the Chinese state’s condemnations of outside meddling — a sign the authorities are worried. 

Clearly, Beijing is concerned about what a tragic end for this famous dissident could mean for its international reputation.
All of this calls to mind the recent case of Otto Warmbier, the American citizen who, as a result of strong U.S. pressure, was released in June after being imprisoned last year by North Korea. 

When he went to the hermit kingdom as a tourist he was a healthy young man; when he returned home to Ohio he was in coma and died days later. 

North Korea continues to deny any wrongdoing.

China, like North Korea and other authoritarian regimes, has a penchant for brutality, lies and self-deception. 

I know this from personal experience.

In 2005, the Chinese authorities began what would turn out to be seven years of persecution of my family and me in retaliation for my work as an activist and lawyer, which focused on the corruption of the Communist Party, including its violent one-child policy. 

I was kidnapped, put in jails and detention centers and sentenced to over four years in prison on a bogus charge of “disrupting traffic order.”
In serving out my sentence in prison — where torture, forced labor and inhumane conditions were the norm — I was occasionally brought to the medical wing for sham exams performed by a staff made up of convicts who had a smattering of experience in medicine or biology. 

I was never seen by a properly trained doctor, despite grave illness and serious injuries inflicted on me by other inmates on order of the wardens. 

Before I was released, I was given a “medical exam” during which they injected me with drugs that caused me to be unable to speak properly for many days.
Once I returned home, my family and I were immediately placed under house arrest, during which we suffered from extreme deprivation, isolation, and beatings. 

If fleeing entered our minds, we were deterred by guards in our house and in our village tracking us 24 hours a day.
I was severely ill, and my wife often heard the guards chatting among themselves, saying they thought either I or my elderly mother would die soon. 

Meanwhile the authorities publicly claimed — accompanied by propaganda photos and videos — that I was well and free. 

Ultimately I escaped, crawling to a nearby village on my hands and knees — a task made more difficult given my blindness. 

I arrived, finally, at the United States embassy in Beijing in 2012. 

Now I live in freedom in America with my family.
My case and Mr. Liu’s are fairly well known in the West, but there are many attorneys and activists in China who have endured horrific suffering. 

Such political prisoners are routinely denied due process under the law and are forced to participate in show trials in which verdicts are predetermined by Communist Party insiders. 

Some don’t survive prison: Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, Cao Shunli, Li Wangyang and Peng Ming-Min are among those who have died behind bars. 

Families of the victims will likely never get clear answers, as their loved ones’ organs are immediately removed and bodies cremated before independent autopsies can be performed.
For a nation with no rule of law, one of the main levers for influencing the status quo is outspoken condemnation from foreign governments and the public. 

Authoritarian regimes fear public shame, which is why it is time to shame China’s Communist Party for its brutal treatment of Mr. Liu and other champions of liberty currently being held by Beijing.
The Trump administration had no qualms about condemning North Korea’s shameful treatment of Otto Warmbier. 

The White House should do the same for Liu Xiaobo by forcefully demanding his immediate release to the United States for medical treatment.
The document that sent Mr. Liu to prison, Charter 08, insists that “every person is born with inherent rights to dignity and freedom.” 

That sounds a lot like the Declaration of Independence we will be celebrating tomorrow. 

This Fourth of July, will we in America use our freedom to call for the liberation of others?

President Trump considering China sanctions over North Korea

Inaction over Pyongyang and trade war have prompted the US president to look at options including tariffs on steel imports
Reuters

The President is apparently impatient with China but will not make a decision on his course of action this week.

US president Donald Trump is growing increasingly frustrated with China over its inaction on North Korea and bilateral trade issues and is now considering possible trade actions against Beijing, three senior administration officials told Reuters.
The officials said Trump was impatient with China and was looking at options including tariffs on steel imports, which commerce secretary Wilbur Ross has already said he is considering as part of a national security study of the domestic steel industry.

US declares China among worst human trafficking offenders

Whether Trump would actually take any steps against China remains unclear. 

In April, he backed off from a threat to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) after he said Canadian and Mexican leaders asked him to halt a planned executive order in favour of opening discussions.
The officials said there was no consensus yet on the way forward with China and they did not say what other options were being studied. 

No decision was expected this week, a senior official said.
Chinese steel is already subject to dozens of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy orders. 

As a result it has only a small share of the US market.
“What’s guiding this is he ran to protect American industry and American workers,” one of the US officials said, referring to Trump’s 2016 election promise to take a hard line on trade with China.
On North Korea, Trump “feels like he gave China a chance to make a difference” but has not seen enough results, the official said.

The US has pressed China to exert more economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea to help rein in its nuclear and missile programs. 

Beijing has repeatedly said its influence on North Korea is limited and that it is doing all it can.
“They did a little, not a lot,” the official said. 

“And if he’s not going to get what he needs on that, he needs to move ahead on his broader agenda on trade and on North Korea.”
The death of American university student Otto Warmbier last week, after his release from 17 months of imprisonment in Pyongyang, has further complicated Trump’s approach to North Korea, his top national security challenge.
Trump signalled his disappointment with China’s efforts in a tweet a week ago: “While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!”
Trump had made a grand gesture of his desire for warm ties with Xi Jinping when he played host to Xi in April at his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Palm Beach, Florida. 

“I think China will be stepping up,” Trump said at the time.
Since then, however, North Korea’s tests of long-range missiles have continued unabated and there have been reports Pyongyang is preparing for another underground nuclear test.
Trump dropped by last Thursday when White House national security adviser HR McMaster and Trump senior adviser Jared Kushner were meeting Chinese state councillor Yang Jiechi, an official said. 

China’s inability to make headway on North Korea was one of the topics that was discussed, according to two people familiar with the meeting.
Officials in Beijing did not respond to a request for comment on the meeting.

Trump and Xi: The honeymoon is over

By John Pomfret 

Freaks: Trump with Xi Jinping during a bilateral meeting at Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach, Fla., on April 6.

Is Trump’s surprisingly friendly start in relations with China coming to an end? 

Relations with Beijing appear destined for rocky times unless China begins to modify some of its long-standing policies.

On North Korea, over the past week, the Trump administration has put China on notice that its efforts to reign in Kim Jong Un’s nuclear ambitions are not enough. 

In a tweet earlier this week, Trump, in classic passive-aggressive mode, said, “While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!” 

On Wednesday that was followed up by a press conference with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. 

Tillerson reiterated that China has “a diplomatic responsibility to exert much greater economic and diplomatic pressure on the regime if they want to prevent further escalation in the region.” 

These statements came not simply after a series of North Korean missile tests, but also following the North Korean regime’s incarceration and killing of U.S. citizen Otto Warmbier.
This week, the Trump administration also dismissed suggestions by China and South Korea for a freeze on U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises in exchange for a North Korean freeze on its nuclear and missile tests. 

This idea has been criticized by practically every American analyst on all sides of the political spectrum. 

A similar deal was tried in 2005, and North Korea broke the deal in 2006. 

So it’s no coincidence that North Korea still supports it. 

Indeed, also on Wednesday, North Korea’s ambassador to India, Kye Chun-yong, said his country was willing to consider such a freeze.
Trump’s next step is anyone’s guess, but it’s clear that the administration is considering what none of his predecessors had dared to do — penalizing the numerous Chinese companies that are violating U.N. sanctions on North Korea and facilitating its nuclear-weapons program. 

Over the course of the Obama administration, only one such Chinese company was sanctioned.
Problems are also simmering when it comes to Taiwan. 

Before Barack Obama left office, the State Department had prepared an arms sales package to the island, but it had yet to be finalized. 

Wanting to gauge China’s response to North Korea and other issues, the Trump administration had delayed approval. 

With China failing to step up on North Korea, those who back the arms sale within the Trump administration will be emboldened to get this package back on track.
In addition, for years, China has been lobbying the United States to agree to a “fourth communique” on U.S.-China relations. 

The Chinese want to push the United States for a cutoff date for arms sales to Taiwan and to support China’s claim to the island of 23 million people. 

Since 1972, the U.S. position, which successive U.S. administrations have called America’s one-China policy, has been that while it understands that China wants to annex Taiwan, it takes no position on Taiwan’s sovereignty. 

China hopes to change that and earlier this year, Tillerson instructed Brian Hook, the State Department’s director of policy planning, to draw up a memo on the advisability of a fourth communique. 

I’m told the memo laid out the case why a new communique was a horrible idea, a position further strengthened by China’s apparently unwillingness to go the extra mile on North Korea.
Finally, trade and investment issues appear destined to move from the sidelines of the relationship to center stage. 

During the campaign, Trump promised to slap a 45 percent tariff on China’s exports to the United States and to label China a currency manipulator on “day one.” 

Once in office, Trump reversed course and promised better treatment for China if it helped out more on North Korea. 

Now that the prospects for such help appear to be vanishing, a new toughness on the economic side of the relationship is emerging.
Testifying before Congress on Wednesday, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer made the case that any decision to label China a “market economy” would have “cataclysmic” consequences for the World Trade Organization. 

The next day, Lighthizer voiced his disapproval of the Ford Motor Company’s announcement that it planned to move production of its Focus model to China and to export the cars back to the United States. 

Lighthizer also told U.S. senators that his office would be intensifying its enforcement action against Chinese businesses in a variety of cases. 

Speaking about China’s efforts to obtain advanced American technology by forcing U.S. companies to share their trade secrets with potential Chinese competitors in exchange for a piece of China’s market, Lighthizer was blunt: “It’s another example of China trying to take control of a critical industry … there is no ‘reciprocity’ at all, as Chinese companies face nothing like this in the U.S.”
Trump’s “let’s make a deal” approach to China provided Beijing with opportunities for significant wins in its relations with the United States. 

But Beijing so far appears unwilling to embrace Trump’s central argument — that the relationship has been skewed in China’s favor for too long and needs to be reworked.