Run For Your Life

Countries evacuating nationals from Chinese coronavirus areas
Reuters

A growing number of countries around the world are evacuating or planning to evacuate diplomatic staff and citizens from parts of China hit by the new coronavirus.

Following are some countries’ evacuation plans, and how they aim to manage the health risk from those who are returning.
- Kazakhstan, which has previously evacuated 83 from Wuhan, will send two planes to China on Feb. 10 and Feb. 12 to evacuate its citizens. Out of 719 Kazakhs remaining in China, 391 have asked to be repatriated.
- A second evacuation flight is bringing back another 174 Singaporeans and their family members from Wuhan to the city-state on Feb. 9, Singapore’s foreign ministry said.
- Thirty Filipinos returned to the Philippines on Feb. 9 from Wuhan, the Department of Foreign Affairs said. The returning passengers and a 10-member government team will be quarantined for 14 days.
- Britain’s final evacuation flight from Wuhan, carrying more than 200 people, landed at a Royal Air Force base in central England on Feb. 9. A plane carrying 83 British and 27 European Union nationals from Wuhan landed in Britain last week.
- The 34 Brazilians evacuated from Wuhan landed in Brazil on Feb. 9, where they will begin 18 days of quarantine.
- Two planes with about 300 passengers, mostly U.S. citizens, took off from Wuhan on Feb. 6 bound for the United States -- the third group of evacuees from the heart of the coronavirus outbreak, the U.S. State Department said.
- Uzbekistan has evacuated 251 people from China and quarantined them on arrival in Tashkent, the Central Asian nation’s state airline said on Feb. 6.
- A plane load of New Zealanders, Australians and Pacific Islanders evacuated from Wuhan arrived in Auckland, New Zealand on Feb. 5, officials said.
- Taiwan has evacuated the first batch of an estimated 500 Taiwanese stranded in Wuhan.
- Italy flew back 56 nationals from Wuhan to Rome on Feb. 3. The group will spend two weeks in quarantine in a military hospital, the government said.
- Saudi Arabia has evacuated 10 students from Wuhan, Saudi state television reported on Feb. 2.
- Indonesia’s government flew 243 Indonesians from Hubei on Feb. 2 and placed them under quarantine at a military base on an island northwest of Borneo.
- South Korea flew 368 people home on a charter flight that arrived on Jan. 31. A second chartered flight departed Seoul for Wuhan on Jan. 31, with plans to evacuate around 350 more South Korean citizens.
- Japan chartered a third flight to repatriate Japanese people, which arrived from Wuhan on Jan. 31, bringing the number of repatriated nationals to 565.
- Spain’s government is working with China and the European Union to repatriate its nationals.
- Canada evacuated its first group of 176 citizens from Wuhan to an Ontario air force base early on Feb. 5, according to the Globe and Mail newspaper. The country’s foreign minister said a second group should arrive later on Feb. 5 after changing planes in Vancouver. All evacuees will be quarantined on the base for two weeks.
- Russia said it would begin moving its citizens out of China via its Far Eastern region on Feb. 1, regional authorities said. It plans to evacuate more than 600 Russian citizens currently in Hubei, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said. A first Russian military plane took off on Feb. 4 to evacuate Russian citizens from Wuhan, the RIA news agency reported.
- The Netherlands is preparing the voluntary evacuation of 20 Dutch nationals and their families from Hubei, Foreign Minister Stef Blok said. The Netherlands is finalising arrangements with EU partners and Chinese authorities.
- France has evacuated some nationals from Wuhan and said it would place the passengers in quarantine. It said it would first evacuate nationals without symptoms and then those showing symptoms at a later, unspecified date.
- Swiss authorities said they hope to have about 10 citizens join the French evacuation of nationals from China.
- A plane brought 138 Thai nationals home from Wuhan last week. They will spend two weeks in quarantine.

China Threat

The message to China behind Singapore's US F-35 jet plan
By Brad Lendon

Hong Kong -- They are at the cutting-edge of America's elite stealth jet technology, capable of seamlessly connecting pilots for co-ordinated missions.
And now Singapore wants to become the fourth country to enmesh US F-35 warplanes above and around the South China Sea -- a move likely to be greeted with trepidation in Beijing.
In a speech before Parliament last week, Singaporean Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen announced a plan to buy up to 12 F-35 warplanes from the US.
If the deal goes through, Singapore will become the fourth American ally in the Pacific to own them.
The purchase would require US congressional approval, but Ng said that both the Trump administration and the Pentagon favored the deal.

A US Marine Corps F-35B flies above the East China Sea, Oct. 23, 2018.

"Next Gen Singapore Armed Forces will be more lethal in all domains," read a graphic shown to legislators during the defense minister's presentation.
It showed dozens of pieces of military hardware Singapore plans to have in its arsenal by 2030 as it ramps up its defense capabilities.
The US stealth fighters are the crown jewel on the list.
The Pentagon touts the F-35, with the world's most advanced avionics, engines and weaponry, as the "the most affordable, lethal, supportable and survivable aircraft ever to be used."

Regional stability
Singapore sits on the western approaches to the South China Sea.
Analysts say the country's decision to acquire F-35 technology is indicative of growing concerns within Asia regarding China's regional ambitions.
"Singapore probably does not trust China's assurances that its South China Sea claims are benign, without military intentions and will not result in China taking control of air and sea commerce," said Carl Schuster, a former director of operations at the US Pacific Command's Joint Intelligence Center.
China has claimed almost the entire 1.3-million-square-mile South China Sea as its sovereign territory.
It has aggressively asserted its stake in recent years in the face of conflicting claims from several Southeast Asian nations, building up and fortifying islands in the Spratly and Paracel chains.
The US has steadfastly contested those claims, sending warships on freedom of navigation operations near the islands and regularly flying reconnaissance -- and sometimes bomber -- flights over the South China Sea.
When it acquires the F-35s, Singapore will join US allies Australia, Japan and South Korea in operating the jets in the Pacific.
The US also has F-35s based in Japan, and they can operate off US Navy ships moving through the region.
Even the United Kingdom said earlier this year it would send an aircraft carrier with F-35s into the region in 2020.
US officials have previously dismissed the idea they are pursuing a cold war or containment policy in regards to China in the Pacific, but Singapore's decision to join the list of F-35 capable countries risks strengthening that divide between the US and China.
"Beijing should see in this development evidence that there remains strong demand in the Asia-Pacific region for a US presence," said Timothy Heath, senior defense analyst at the RAND Corp.
"The network of air forces that employ the F-35 expands the possibility that these militaries could work together in a coalition if necessary. This development can provide a robust deterrence message to China regarding its behavior in the South and East China seas," Heath said.

Coordination among allies
The F-35's advanced electronic warfare suite can allow seamless integration among allied users and that could be cause for concern in Beijing.

A new F-35B fighter jet is prepped for take off from the deck of the United Kingdom's aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth in 2018. The jet's electronics enable close coordination between allied air forces.

Peter Layton, defense analyst at the Griffith Asia Institute in Australia, says the F-35's stealth and electronic warfare capabilities make it a "force multiplier."
F-35s are able to sneak past air defenses and send detailed targeting information to trailing planes carrying long-range missiles or to land-based anti-ship missile systems, he added.
"The acquisition may spur China to think about how it can improve its air defense network in the South China Sea and on ships to detect and target stealth aircraft such as Singapore's F-35," said Layton.
Previous F-35 purchases from US allies have prompted bravado from Chinese media.
A January report in the state-sponsored Global Times brushed away any threat from "the US F-35 friends circle" in the Asia-Pacific, with Chinese analysts saying the F-35 was no match for China's fifth-generation stealth jet, the J-20.
Yet even though the F-35 procurement sends strong signals to China, analysts agree that Singapore is sending them carefully.
Defense Minister Ng did not mention China when revealing purchase plans last week.
His presentation to Parliament said only that the jets "will significantly contribute to the (air force's) ability to safeguard Singapore's sovereignty and security."
He also said the country was being deliberate in how it acquired them, buying four with its first order and then adding up to eight others if the first batch fit requirements.

Singapore Air Force F-15SGs fighter aircraft flay as part of the National Day Parade in 2018. The jets would work in concert with the county's F-35s in the future.

'Low-key player'
The F-35s would eventually work in concert with Singapore's US-built F-15s when they replace the country's F-16s, which will be obsolete in a decade, the defense minister said.

Two Singaporean F-16s fly in formation with an F-15 in 2017. The country's defense minister says the F-16s will be obsolete by 2030.

While Singapore has been a close and longtime US ally -- it even hosts a US Navy facility -- it tends to be a low-key player in military matters.
"Despite good relations with the United States, Singapore generally remains reluctant to take a leadership role in challenging Chinese power due to its small size and depth of economic ties with China," Heath said.
Schuster added: "Singapore does not want to anger China... Singapore tends to act quietly and with nuance and subtlety."
However, the subtle approach should not be mistaken for military weakness.
Australia's Lowy Institute ranked Singapore's military power 10th among 25 Asian nations last year -- just behind Australia and ahead of larger countries like Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Singapore boasts quality military hardware and strong defense relationships in the region.
"Singapore sees its role as a facilitator of regional security and stability, not as a member of any alliance directed at any particular nation," said Schuster.

Axis of Evil

China and Russia’s awkward romance
By Jonathan Hillman

Oriental despots: Xi Jinping hosted Vladimir Putin in Beijing to discuss increasing economic and military cooperation between their two countries. June 25, 2016. 

This week, Chinese dictator Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin are capitalizing on President Trump’s absence from two major summits. 

Putin met with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Singapore, and Xi will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Papua New Guinea. 

In Asia, where economics is strategy, Xi and Putin are not only showing up but claiming to champion a new approach to globalization.
Lately, Xi and Putin like calling for openness and inclusivity, appropriating Western language to fuel resentment in many of the places that have benefited from globalization the most. 

They even pledged to link their signature economic visions in 2015, a political act kept alive by endless joint statements and signing ceremonies, including those last week. 

China’s Belt and Road Initiative promises $1 trillion of new infrastructure, trade deals and stronger cultural ties with over 80 countries. 

The Eurasian Economic Union puts Russia at the center of a single market for goods, services, capital and labor.
The problem is not American ignorance of this threat but the absence of a coherent strategy in meeting it. 

“Moscow and Beijing share a common interest in weakening U.S. global influence and are actively cooperating in that regard,” the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency concluded in a 2017 report. 

But unintentionally, the cumulative effect of U.S. sanctions against Russia and tariffs against China could hasten the very threat Washington seeks to avoid: an anti-Western authoritarian partnership between the world’s largest nuclear power and second-largest economy.
That nightmare can still be avoided. 

Thankfully, the Sino-Russian partnership still has an artificial flavor, supported more by leaders-on-high than organic developments on the ground. 

After each round of ceremonial signings and partnership promises, China still towers above Russia in economic and demographic terms. 

With a long history of invasions, Russia’s paranoia about foreign powers approaching its borders will not vanish overnight.
But Russian policymakers must be persuaded to take China’s economic power as seriously as the West’s military power. 

China’s grand ambitions run through Russia and its neighbors, but its investments and infrastructure projects have not yet triggered alarms in Moscow. 

Russia is the gatekeeper for China’s overland push westward, but Xi now holds the keys in the form of investment and respect that Putin, economically and diplomatically isolated from the West, craves.
Washington should highlight the risks of China’s Belt and Road in Russia’s backyard. 

Three of the eight countries with the highest debt risk from Chinese lending are Russia’s close neighbors: Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia. 

China can exploit the weakness of small economies that borrow big, as it did when it wrote off a portion of Tajikistan’s debt in exchange for disputed territory in 2011. 

Inevitably, as China’s economic footprint grows, so will its security footprint. 

Sightings of Chinese military vehicles and construction in Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor suggest this expansion is already underway.
To take the air out of Xi and Putin’s globalization tale, Trump’s trade policy must be updated. Yesterday, a memorandum of understanding was signed to boost trade between ASEAN and the Eurasian Economic Union. 

China is backing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a regional deal that gained momentum when Trump withdrew from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership. 

Easier said than done, but the United States urgently needs to get back into the game of offering regional alternatives rather than bilateral ultimatums.
Finally, a bit of old-fashioned diplomacy would go a long way. 

For now, the United States does not need to choose between Russia and China, as President Richard Nixon famously did over four decades ago. 

It would be wiser to work selectively with both sides, toning down the “with us or against us” rhetoric and noting areas of existing cooperation. 

Before reflexively approving the next round of sanctions, American policymakers should carefully evaluate their longer-term consequences, such as encouraging the rise of alternative payment systems, harm to the dollar, and pushing U.S. competitors closer.
With restraint and patience, the United States could reestablish itself as a natural wedge between Russia and China. 

At the very least, it must avoid becoming a bridge that unites them.

National security adviser John Bolton Warns China Against Limiting Free Passage in South China Sea

Remarks served as warning to Southeast Asian leaders, who are preparing for a summit in Singapore this week
By Jake Maxwell Watts

National security adviser John Bolton speaks in Miami on Nov. 1. Mr. Bolton said Tuesday that U.S. vessels would continue to sail through the South China Sea. 

SINGAPORE—National security adviser John Bolton said the U.S. would oppose any agreements between China and other claimants to the South China Sea that limit free passage to international shipping, and that American naval vessels would continue to sail through those waters.
Mr. Bolton’s remarks served as a warning to Southeast Asian leaders, who are preparing for a regional summit in Singapore this week, and particularly for the Philippines, which is now in talks with Beijing about jointly exploring natural resources in the contested area.
In meetings to develop a code of conduct this year for the South China Sea, China has tried to secure a veto over Southeast Asian nations hosting military exercises with other countries in the disputed waters.
Such a deal would have the potential to limit U.S. military engagement with countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Beijing has also urged its southern neighbors to develop the region’s resources only with other countries in the region, according to people familiar with the draft text, which has been years in the making.
Chinese officials have previously declined to comment on the talks, which are continuing. 

Security analysts say Southeast Asian countries are unlikely to accept any proposal that would preclude them from exercises with the U.S.
Mr. Bolton said the U.S. welcomes the negotiations in principle. 

In a media briefing in Singapore, he described them as a plus.
But he stressed that “the outcome has to be mutually acceptable, and also has to be acceptable to all the countries that have legitimate maritime and naval rights to transit and other associate rights that we don’t want to see infringed.”

The USS Ronald Reagan and the guided-missile destroyer USS Milius, conduct an exercise in the South China Sea.

China, which claims almost the entire South China Sea, has built up several small atolls and constructed military bases on them, providing it with a strategic advantage over the region’s smaller claimants, which include the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. 

Taiwan also has competing claims, while countries such as Japan and South Korea depend on the shipping routes to supply nearly all of their oil needs.
The U.S. military has responded by conducting regular patrols that challenge China’s claims of sovereignty by sailing near or flying over the reclaimed islands, leading to several tense brushes with Chinese military vessels. 

Mr. Bolton said Tuesday that the U.S. will continue the faster pace of these missions and increase both military spending and the level of engagement with other countries in the region to reinforce its position.
Some leaders in Southeast Asia have opted to engage Beijing, hoping that cooperating with China will at least provide some economic benefit.
Among them is President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, who is expected to welcome Chinese dictator Xi Jinping to Manila next week. 

It isn’t known whether the two leaders will announce the conclusion of a deal on joint resource exploration.
A broader code of conduct between China and Southeast Asian countries, meanwhile, appears some way off.
In a speech Tuesday morning in Singapore, Li Keqiang said Beijing hopes the agreement “will be finished in three years’ time,” dashing hopes of substantial progress by the conclusion of this week’s leaders’ summit.
The heads of government for Southeast Asia’s 10 countries are meeting this week in Singapore for an annual summit and will be joined by leaders from eight other countries including Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.
China in particular is trying to drum up support for a free-trade pact called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which includes the Southeast Asian nations plus China, India, Australia, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand. 

Negotiations for the pact picked up speed after President Trump pulled the U.S. out of a rival trans-Pacific trade agreement that excluded China. 

Li said Tuesday that talks would continue into next year.
Mr. Bolton said the U.S. is instead trying to drive more bilateral trade with key partners, such as Japan.
“I think the level of diplomatic activity has picked up,” he said. 

“I think this is a strategy that is still being shaped but it’s being received very well and we’re continuing to pursue it.”

US criticises China’s empire and aggression in Asia

US vice-president Pence takes swipe at Beijing’s regional ambitions ahead of Trump-Xi meeting at G20 
By Stefania Palma in Singapore

Mike Pence: 'Empire and aggression have no place in the Indo-Pacific' 

Mike Pence, US vice-president, has condemned “empire and aggression” in Asia in a veiled swipe at China’s growing influence across the region, fuelling tensions ahead of a meeting between the two countries’ leaders at the G20 summit later this month
 The rhetoric marks one of Washington’s strongest attacks on Beijing’s growing sway in the region, and comes amid a trade war that has seen the world’s two biggest economies slap duties on more than $350bn worth of trade, rattling global financial markets. 
 “We all agree that empire and aggression have no place in the Indo-Pacific,” Mr Pence told a gathering of Asian leaders at the Asean summit in Singapore.
“In all that we do, the United States seeks collaboration, not control. And we are proud to call Asean our strategic partner.”
 The US delegation has used the Singapore meetings to reassert its commitment to Asean — the Association of Southeast Asian Nations — from which the White House seeks support to push back against Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and to urge North Korea towards denuclearisation.
 Mr Pence’s speech highlighted the tensions dominating Sino-US relations ahead of a key meeting between President Trump and Xi in Buenos Aires later this month, the scheduling of which had signalled a potential breakthrough in the countries’ escalating trade dispute. 
 Wang Qishan, Chinese vice-president and close confidant of Xi, last week said that Beijing was ready to talk with Washington to resolve the trade dispute, while the US and China held high-level talks in Washington that included a meeting between John Bolton, President Trump’s national security adviser, and Yang Jiechi, a Chinese state councillor with responsibility for foreign affairs. 
 The stakes of the meeting in Argentina are high.
These “significant” talks will cover a wide range of issues including trade and “will help give [the two presidents’] senior advisers guidance as to how to proceed going forward,” Mr Bolton told journalists at the Asean summit. 
 If no deal is reached, the most likely scenario is that the tariff rate on most of the $250bn of targeted Chinese exports to the US will rise from 10 per cent to 25 per cent in January.
President Trump could then proceed to what US officials describe as phase three of the trade confrontation with Beijing, imposing tariffs on all US imports from China.  
Mr Pence on Thursday said that the US’s vision of the Indo-Pacific “excludes no nation. It only requires that every nation treat their neighbours with respect, that they respect the sovereignty of our nations and the international rules of order.”
Washington has accused China of military intimidation and economic coercion of other countries in the region.
It argues that Beijing’s militarisation of the South China Sea has effectively robbed rival claimants of fair access.
Washington also says that the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the foreign policy framework that builds Chinese influence through massive infrastructure projects, forces less powerful countries into dangerous dependence.
 At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Papua New Guinea this weekend, Mr Pence is due to unveil details of America’s Indo-Pacific strategy, aimed at providing an alternative to China’s BRI.
 The US plan “stands in sharp contrast to the dangerous debt diplomacy that China has been engaging in throughout the region and has led several countries . . . to have serious debt problems from accepting loans that are not transparent”, a senior US administration official told reporters in Singapore.

Chinese Fifth Column

Worries Grow in Singapore Over China’s Calls to Help ‘Motherland’

By Amy Qin

Nam Hwa Opera members before a performance in Singapore in May at a club for Singaporeans with ties to Guangdong Province, China.

SINGAPORE — Growing up in Singapore, Chan Kian Kuan always took pride in his Teochew heritage — the dialect, the cultural traditions and the famous steamed fish. 

But after visiting his ancestral village in Teochew, in Guangdong Province, China, and seeing the progress there, he became truly proud to be not just Teochew, but also Chinese.
“It’s very messy. We are Chinese, but we are Singaporean, too,” said Chan, vice president of the Teochew Poit Ip Clan Association in Singapore. 

“When China becomes stronger, we feel proud. China is like the big brother.”
As a young country made up mostly of immigrants, Singapore has for decades walked a fine line between encouraging citizens like Chan to connect with their cultural heritage and promoting a Singaporean national identity.
But there are growing concerns here that a rising China could tip that carefully orchestrated balance by seeking to convert existing cultural affinities among Singaporean Chinese into loyalty to the Chinese “motherland.”
Confident in its fast-growing political and economic clout, China has become increasingly assertive in its efforts to appeal to the vast Chinese diaspora to serve the country’s national interests and gain influence abroad. 

Already, there has been evidence of the Chinese Communist Party’s attempts to manipulate political activity among Chinese populations in countries like Canada, the United States and Australia.
Celebrating Chinese New Year in 2017 at the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple in Singapore.
And with ethnic Chinese constituting nearly 75 percent of Singapore’s population of 5.6 million, scholars and former diplomats worry that this island nation could be an especially tantalizing target for the Chinese government’s influence efforts.
“For us, it is an existential issue; the stakes are extremely high,” said Bilahari Kausikan, a former permanent secretary of Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and one of the most outspoken voices in the country on the subject of Chinese interference.
“China’s rise is a geopolitical fact that everyone must accept,” Mr. Kausikan said. 

“But it’s a very small step in my mind from cultural affinity for China to the idea of Chinese superiority. We are only 53 years old. It’s not guaranteed that every Singaporean Chinese would not be tempted either consciously or unconsciously to take that step.”
Last month China’s ambassador to Singapore took the rare step of publicly rebutting recent remarks made by Mr. Kausikan in which he raised an alarm about what he called China’s covert “influence operations.”
“We uphold the principles of peaceful coexistence and champion global fairness and justice,” the ambassador, Hong Xiaoyong, wrote in an op-ed in The Straits Times, an English-language newspaper.

A mural in Singapore’s Chinatown. Despite having a population that is majority Chinese, the country promotes a Singaporean national identity.

One example of how on-edge Singaporean officials have been came to light last year when the government expelled Huang Jing, an American academic born in China, for his covert effort to influence Singapore’s foreign policy on behalf of Chinese government.

The expulsion came amid heightened tensions between Singapore and China over territorial issues relating to the South China Sea.
Mr. Kausikan and others are also concerned about China’s subtler influence efforts in Singapore, including appeals to sentimental “flesh and blood” ties to China.
In recent years, China has stepped up people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, helping to organize conferences bringing together overseas Chinese, arranging visits for Singaporean Chinese to their ancestral villages and coordinating study abroad programs and “roots-seeking camps” for young Singaporeans.
These kinds of programs are not unique to China, of course. 

The camps, for example, bear some similarity to Israel’s popular Birthright program. 

They are often arranged and paid for in part by Chinese government agencies like the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office.
In a description of one such camp held this year, participating Singaporean students were promised a full itinerary of activities including lessons in Chinese calligraphy and history. 

At another camp, in 2014, the schedule included learning the martial art of tai chi and singing Communist “red” songs.
In recent years, officials affiliated with the Communist Party’s United Front Work Department — a powerful Chinese agency responsible for winning hearts and minds abroad — have also visited Singapore with the aim of strengthening ties with the local Chinese.
“My cellphone is on 24 hours a day,” Hong Guoping, then head of the United Front in the Xiang’an district in Fujian Province, told a group of Singaporean Chinese affiliated with that district in 2013. “My fellow countrymen can call me at any time. I’m happy to serve everyone.”
In a sign of the growing emphasis on building diaspora ties, it was announced this year that the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office would come under the purview of the United Front Work Department.
“A more generous reading is that these are people-to-people exchanges,” said Ian Chong, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, “and a more skeptical reading is that it’s an effort by China to exert soft-power influence.”

The skyline of Singapore’s central business district and port terminal.
Scholars have highlighted what they call a worrying trend that has seen China increasingly blurring the distinction between huaqiao (Chinese citizens overseas) and huaren (ethnic Chinese of all nationalities).
At an overseas Chinese work conference last year, Xi Jinping stressed the need to bring together people of Chinese descent around the world — up to 60 million ethnic Chinese in more than 180 countries — to enjoy the “Chinese dream.”
“The realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation requires the joint efforts of Chinese sons and daughters at home and abroad,” said Xi, according to Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency.
Scholars say the focus on strengthening ties with overseas Chinese signals a major shift away from Beijing’s previous, more hands-off approach to diaspora relations.
“There is a sense that the emphasis now is on how all ethnic Chinese share a similar origin and therefore should be more sympathetic to a P.R.C. perspective,” said Professor Chong, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
Singaporeans in a ferris wheel cabin this spring during an event co-organized by the Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations.

In Western countries, China has already successfully mobilized local groups like Chinese businessmen, Chinese students and Chinese-language media, using them as proxies to rally against anti-Chinese views or to whip up support for Beijing’s line on contentious issues like the Dalai Lama or Taiwan.
Frequently, the result has been a negative and often xenophobic anti-Chinese backlash. 

Many overseas Chinese have said they are now being unfairly subject to a cloud of suspicion simply for being associated with China.
“When you start reaching out to people on the basis of race and blood, it becomes unacceptable to other governments,” said Wang Gungwu, a former chairman of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore. 

“On the other hand, Beijing thinks it is natural to do so. And that is where the conflict lies, however unintended the consequences may be.”
As the only country outside China, Hong Kong and Taiwan to have a majority-Chinese population, Singapore is in a unique position.
Wary of being seen as a fifth column of China, the country under Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew went out of its way after gaining independence in 1965 to assert its sovereignty — making it a point to be the last country in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to establish diplomatic ties with China.

The $110 million, 11-story Singapore Chinese Cultural Center was opened last year in the heart of the city’s financial district.

At the same time, the government sought to build a Singaporean national identity based on multiracialism, equality and meritocracy. 

English is the country’s official working language.
But Singapore finds itself continually needing to remind officials in Beijing that it is not a Chinese country. 

Last year, for example, not long after China unveiled a gleaming new center to promote Chinese culture here, Singapore countered by opening a sprawling $110 million, 11-story Singapore Chinese Cultural Center in the heart of the financial district.
The message was clear: Singaporean Chinese culture is not the same as Chinese culture.
And China’s efforts to gain influence in Singapore are by no means one way. 

Recognizing the economic potential after China’s opening up in the 1980s, Singapore has also gone out of its way to play up its shared Chinese heritage.
In the late 1970s, for example, the government started a language campaign to encourage young Singaporean Chinese to learn Mandarin — China’s official language — instead of their native Chinese dialects, with an eye to facilitating greater business opportunities. 

Every year, the country also hosts numerous performances by Chinese entertainers, particularly during the annual Chinese New Year celebrations.
Last year, Singapore was China’s top foreign investor — a status many here proudly attribute to the country’s ability to act as a gateway between China and the West.

Tourists posing this spring with Singapore’s famous Merlion statue.
“You could say Singaporeans are even more proactive than the Chinese” in building ties between the two countries, said Chan of the Teochow Poit Ip Clan Association.
Not everyone is convinced that China will succeed in winning the loyalty of Singaporean Chinese, which are a large and fragmented population.
Young Singaporean Chinese as well as those who studied in the country’s former English education system, for example, often have only a vague notion of China and limited Chinese-speaking abilities. Then there is the large influx of immigrants from China in recent years, which has sharpened the perceived differences between the two countries.
“Maybe some people who go back to their ancestral village and see all the progress being made might feel their heartstrings being tugged, but at the end of the day, they would never look at it and think this is home,” said Pang Cheng Lian, the editor of the book “50 Years of the Chinese Community in Singapore.”
Then again, when it comes to strengthening its influence abroad, China has proved that it is both patient and persistent.
“They are not eager to have immediate results,” said Leo Suryadinata, a visiting senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, “because Beijing’s view is always the long-term view.”

Chinese Aggressions

UK sends 'strongest of signals' on free navigation in South China Sea
By Nicola Smith, Singapore

Gavin Williamson, UK defence secretary, on board the HMS Sutherland in Singapore

Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, said on Sunday that the UK has deployed three ships to the Asia-Pacific this year to send the “strongest of signals” on the importance of freedom of navigation and to keep up maximum pressure on North Korea.
His comments on board the Royal Navy’s HMS Sutherland docked in Singapore, come a day after General James Mattis, the US Secretary of Defence, accused China of “intimidation and coercion” in the South China Sea and warned there would be “consequences” if it continued.
The surge of British warships, which include the Sutherland - an anti-submarine frigate - the HMS Albion and HMS Argyll, is the first deployment of three vessels to the region in a generation.
Part of their mission is to conduct freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea, where Beijing is continuing to alarm the international community with a build up of military fortifications in disputed waters.
“The reason that they are here and the reason that we are visiting is to send the strongest of signals. We believe that countries should play by the rules,” said Mr Williamson.
“This is even more important at a time when storm clouds are gathering and regional fears are rising, when more nations have nuclear and chemical weapons, not to mention the infringement of regional access, freedoms and security.”
But he declined to answer whether British ships would sail within 12 nautical miles of a disputed territory or artificial island built by the Chinese, as US ships have done.
At the end of May China’s military said it had dispatched warships to challenge two US Navy vessels that had passed within 12 nautical miles of the Paracel Islands, an archipelago in disputed waters off the coast of Vietnam. 

Gavin Williamson, UK defence secretary, tours the HMS Sutherland in Singapore

China, whose claim to the Paracel Islands is not recognised, argued that passage within 12 nautical miles constitutes a violation of the country’s territory under the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea.
Mr Williamson stressed that the UK, France and Australia had also been asserting their rights of passage in the region. 

“We’ve been sending a clear message to all that the freedom of navigation is absolutely critical,” he said.
Since it left UK shores in January, the Sutherland and its 220-strong crew have also engaged in surveillance operations to counter efforts by North Korea to bypass UN sanctions on banned commodities through illicit ship-to-ship transfers.
Mr Williamson said the UK was “very realistic about the challenges” that lay ahead with North Korea, but welcomed the prospect of the upcoming Singapore summit between Donald Trump, the US President and Kim Jong-un.
“The most important thing that we have is the fact that people are talking, people are trying to work to find a solution and the diplomatic lead that has been shown is one that I think we all welcome and we know is the right approach.”

Mattis accuses China of intimidation and coercion in South China Sea

Mattis takes hard line on China in Singapore speech

By Joshua Berlinger

Singapore -- US Defense Secretary James Mattis accused China of "intimidation and coercion" in the Indo-Pacific and declared that the United States does not plan to abandon its role in the region during a speech Saturday in Singapore.
"Make no mistake: America is in the Indo-Pacific to stay. This is our priority theater," Mattis said.
Mattis specifically called out Beijing's militarization of artificial islands in the South China Sea, home to some of the world's busiest sea lanes.
"We are aware China will face an array of challenges and opportunities in coming years, we are prepared to support China's choices if they promote long-term peace and prosperity for all in this dynamic region," Mattis said.
"Yet China's policy in the South China Sea stands in stark contrast to the openness our strategy promotes. It calls into question China's broader goals," he said.
Mattis and some of his counterparts from the Asia Pacific region are in Singapore for the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual gathering of security officials, contractors and academics in the Asian city-state.
The South China Sea has been a hot topic of discussion during the summit's opening, amid ongoing attempts by China to assert its dominance in the region.
China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Brunei all have competing claims to the territory. 

But while other countries have built military features and artificial islands, none come close to matching Beijing's in scale or ambition, which stretch hundreds of miles south and east from its most southerly province of Hainan.
In May, the Chinese military landed nuclear-capable bombers on its artificial islands for the first time.
Weeks earlier, US intelligence announced there was a high possibility Beijing had deployed anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles as part of ongoing military exercises.
"China's militarization of artificial features in the South China Sea includes the deployment of anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missiles, electronic jammers and, more recently, the landing of bomber aircraft at woody island," said Mattis, confirming previous intelligence reports.
"Despite China's claims to the contrary, the placement of these weapon systems is tied directly to military use for the purposes of intimidation and coercion," he said.
On Sunday, two US Navy warships sailed close to a handful of disputed islands claimed by China in the Paracel island chain, east of Vietnam, in a move that drew the ire of Beijing.
"I think it goes to a fundamental disconnect between the way the international tribunals have looked at these waters -- these waters look to us as free and open waters," said Mattis, addressing last week's freedom of navigation operation directly.
"We do not do freedom of navigation for America alone, we do freedom of navigation for all nations... we do not see it as a militarization by going through what has traditionally been international water space. We see it as affirmation of the rules-based international order."
Though Mattis appeared to draw a firm line between the actions of the US and China, he insisted the US is not asking other countries in the region to choose sides.
"China should and does have a voice in shaping the international system, and all of China's neighbors have a voice in shaping China's role," said Mattis, adding that he would travel to Beijing soon "at China's invitation."
China claims its actions in the South China Sea are entirely peaceful and meant to protect its citizens and trading interests.

Korean summit
Mattis only briefly mentioned the status of the Korean Peninsula in his formal remarks, which come just hours after Donald Trump announced that he will hold a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12, just days after Mattis departs.
The Defense Secretary stuck to fairly common talking points from Washington: highlighting the importance of US alliances and the ultimate goal of complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Much of the speech was focused on longer-term challenges in the region known as the Indo-Pacific, a phrase used throughout India and Southeast Asia and recently embraced by the Trump administration.
He also mentioned the importance of upholding US alliances and partnerships in the region, specifically highlighting Australia, New Zealand and India. 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the keynote opening speech this year, also emphasizing the importance of a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Mattis also touched upon the status of Taiwan, an issue bound to ruffle feathers in Beijing. 

China views the island as a renegade province and seeks its eventual reunification with the mainland.
Beijing has been accused of ramping up the pressure on Taipei in recent weeks, with Taiwan accusing using its diplomatic and economic weight to isolate the island from the international community. 

It has also punished business for recognizing Taiwan as independent country.
"We oppose all unilateral efforts to alter the status quo and will continue to insist any resolution of differences accord with the will of the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait," he said.
Mattis delivered the keynote address at the event last year.

Chinese Fifth Column

WHAT SINGAPORE IS SAYING BY EXPELLING CHINESE AGENT HUANG JING
BY ZURAIDAH IBRAHIM
Expelled: Beijing stooge Huang Jing. 

Older Singaporeans travelling beyond Asia are all too familiar with encountering ignorance about their country’s geography. 

“You’re from Singapore? Is that part of China?”
Being the only Chinese-majority state outside Greater China and being no larger than a city, some confusion about Singapore’s status is understandable. 

After 52 years, Singapore still finds itself needing to educate the world that it is a sovereign republic.
One lesson was delivered a week ago. 

On August 4, Singapore announced it was expelling a Chinese professor for trying to influence the city state’s foreign policy on behalf of an unnamed foreign government. 

Huang Jing, an "expert" on United States-China relations at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, was accused of passing “privileged information” to senior Singapore officials with the intent of influencing their decisions.
“He did this in collaboration with foreign intelligence agents,” the statement said. 

“This amounts to subversion and foreign interference in Singapore’s domestic politics.”
It marked the first time in more than two decades that Singapore had publicly booted out an alleged functionary of a foreign power for interference in its domestic affairs.
Singapore did not name the country Huang Jing was working for, but most people assume it is China.

The affair has sparked intense discussion and speculation. 

Since such expulsions are invariably symbolic, the question is what Singapore is trying to communicate.
The move has to be read in the context of a rising China. 

Like most other countries, Singapore is having to adjust to this megatrend. 

Ironically, Singapore played a prominent role in helping the West understand China in its early opening-up years. 

Singapore feared, and continues to fear, that if the relationship is mismanaged, China’s Asian neighbours will pay the price.
Singapore’s late elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew was determined to persuade the United States not to alienate this emerging Asian power but to encourage it to play a responsible role in the international community. 

Lee was such an effective China whisperer he was sometimes misunderstood in the West as a Beijing stooge.
More recently, Singapore has been dealing with the opposite perception problem. 

China, already arrived as a major global player, has been hinting that Singapore is too pro-American and not giving enough face to its Asian neighbour.
Analysts point to various Singapore actions that displeased Beijing. 

On a Chinese current affairs programme in April now making the rounds online, Huang Jing said Singapore should not have spoken up about the arbitration of the South China Sea dispute between the Philippines and China. 

Huang also suggested Singapore had gone overboard in selling the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which China was not a part of. 

Lastly, Singapore had put too much faith in Barack Obama’s Asia rebalancing or pivot strategy, assuming that Hillary Clinton would be elected and build on it.
In May, Singapore’s prime minister, unlike most of his counterparts in the region, did not receive an invitation to Xi Jinping’s inaugural Belt and Road summit. 

Another intriguing development was the two-month seizure of nine Singapore Armed Forces Terrex military vehicles by Hong Kong en route home from military exercises in Taiwan. 

Whatever the explanations – now being sorted out in court – the incident in Hong Kong was a reminder to Singapore of the inconveniences that Beijing could cause if it were so inclined.
The Singapore-made Terrex infantry carriers seized at a container terminal in Hong Kong. 
Although putting up a brave face, there have been clear signs that the Singapore government is extremely sensitive about claims that it may have made mistakes in managing relations with China. In December last year, two academics from the Rajaratnam School of International Studies, which has links to Singapore’s security and foreign policy elite, wrote an op-ed criticising Singaporean commentators by name for stating the obvious – that the Terrex affair was a sign of China’s irritation. The academics claimed such speculation was unfounded and “misguided assertions” could just fuel domestic anger and escalate the situation.
A much stronger reaction greeted Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School, when he wrote an article urging Singapore to “exercise discretion” and “be very restrained in commenting on matters involving great powers”. 

He mentioned in particular the China-Philippines maritime dispute, saying that it “would have been wiser to be more circumspect”.
A ton of bricks fell on Mahbubani. 

His highly influential former colleague Bilahari Kausikan called his argument “muddled, mendacious and indeed dangerous”. 

The powerful Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam said it was “questionable, intellectually” and ran contrary to the thinking of the late Lee Kuan Yew.
Against this backdrop, Huang Jing’s expulsion can be read as the government’s unequivocal warning that it will not allow too many cooks in the kitchen of Singapore-China relations. 

Singaporean foreign policy wonks are not the only intended audience of this message. 

Another key target must be the many potential opinion makers of mainland Chinese extraction in Singapore institutions.
Meanwhile, Singapore-China relations seem to be warming up. 

Xi and Lee met ahead of the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany last month, where they “affirmed the substantive bilateral relationship”, according to the prime minister’s office. 

State-run Xinhua quoted Xi as saying China was “ready to work with the Southeast Asian country to enhance the bilateral partnership step by step”.
At the recently concluded Asean meeting in Manila, Singapore’s foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan met with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

The statements from both sides were positive. 

Balakrishnan told the media later that “the challenges we’ve had in the last one or two years are actually part of a maturation process in our relationship”.

A signal has been sent: the Lion City is tiny and depends on the friendly cooperation of China; but contrary to ignorant opinion, Singapore is its own country. ■

Political Lesson to Big Brother

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop delivers warning to China on need to embrace democracy
By Andrew Greene

Julie Bishop is in Singapore to promote Australia's relationships with key partners in Southeast Asia.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has warned China it can only reach its full economic potential if it further embraces democracy.
Speaking in Singapore on Monday night Ms Bishop strongly defended democratic institutions and regional norms, while reaffirming the Australian Government's view that the "United States must play an even greater role as the indispensable strategic power in the Indo-Pacific".
"It is the pre-eminent global strategic power in Asia and the world by some margin," Ms Bishop told the International Institute of Strategic Studies.
"It is a country which does not have territorial disputes with other countries in the region."
Ms Bishop, who recently met with US Vice-President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and National Security Advisor HR McMaster, argued that the region was in a "strategic holding pattern and waiting to see whether the US and its security allies and partners can continue to play the robust and constructive role they have for many decades in preserving the peace".
In an address titled 'Change and Uncertainty in the Indo-Pacific' the Foreign Minister urged ASEAN members to champion democratic norms and institutions in the region.
During her Fullerton lecture Ms Bishop also sent an unusually blunt message to Beijing about the importance of democratic institutions.
"While it is appropriate for different states to discover their own pathway leading toward political reform, history shows that embrace of liberal democratic institutions is the most successful foundation for nations seeking economic prosperity and social stability," Ms Bishop said.
"While non-democracies such as China can thrive when participating in the present system, an essential pillar of our preferred order is democratic community."
"Domestic democratic habits of negotiating and compromise are essential to powerful countries resolving their disagreements according to international law and rules."
The Foreign Minister's comments come just days before Li Kequiang is scheduled to visit Australia.

Han Duplicity: U.N. Report Details North Korea’s Front Companies in China

A maze of shadowy businesses allows Kim Jong-un to evade sanctions and experts say there's no way Beijing doesn't know.
BY COLUM LYNCH

When China announced last week plans to cut off imports of coal from North Korea, a vital source of revenue for the cash-starved Hermit Kingdom, it fueled optimism that Beijing may be getting serious about reining in its erratic neighbor.
But an unpublished U.N. report obtained by Foreign Policy that documents sophisticated North Korean efforts to evade sanctions shows that China has proved a fickle partner at best in Washington’s effort to stymie Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.
That poses a fresh challenge for U.S. President Donald Trump, whose prospects of containing North Korea’s nuclear weapons program — which has made great strides lately — rest largely with Beijing. But instead of low-key diplomatic spadework, Trump has sought to browbeat China into helping, blaming the Asian powerhouse with failing to use its influence to clip Pyongyang’s atomic aspirations.
North Korea “is flouting sanctions through trade in prohibited goods, with evasion techniques that are increasing in scale, scope and sophistication,” according to the report compiled by an eight-member panel, which is chaired by a British national and includes experts from China, Russia, and the United States. 

The North Korean schemes are “combining to significantly negate the impact” of international sanctions.
China, despite its apparent cooperation of late with international efforts to sanction North Korea, has instead served as Pyongyang’s economic lifeline, purchasing the vast majority of its coal, gold, and iron ore and serving as the primary hub for illicit trade that undermines a raft of U.N. sanctions that China nominally supports, the report’s findings suggest.
As early as December 2016, China had blown past a U.N.-imposed ceiling of 1 million metric tons on coal imports, purchasing twice that amount. 

China then shrugged off a requirement to report its North Korean coal imports to the U.N. Security Council sanctions committee. 

When U.S. and Japanese diplomats pressed their Chinese counterpart for an explanation in a closed-door meeting this month, the Chinese diplomat said nothing, according to a U.N.-based official.
North Korean banks and firms, meanwhile, have maintained access to international financial markets through a vast network of Chinese-based front companies, enabling Pyongyang to evade sanctions. 

That includes trades in cash and gold bullion and concealing financial transactions behind a network of foreign countries and individuals, allowing North Korea to gain ready access to the international financial system, as well as to banks in China and New York. 

North Korea’s business “networks are adapting by using greater ingenuity in accessing formal banking channels as well as bulk cash and gold transfers,” the report found.
William Newcomb, a former member of the U.N. sanctions panel on North Korea, said it is hard to believe China is unaware of the illicit trade.
“You have designated entities that have continued to operate in China,” he told FP. 

“It’s not an accident. China’s security services are good enough to know who is doing what” inside their country.
China has a pattern of showing goodwill in the U.N. Security Council by supporting a succession of sanctions resolutions aimed at curtailing Pyongyang’s nuclear trade, according to Newcomb. 

But it has shown no commitment to enforcing those measures.
And it has used its power in an obscure Security Council sanctions subcommittee — which makes its decisions by consensus and in secret — to “slow-roll” efforts to ensure that sanctions are respected, Newcomb said.
The Chinese mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment. 

An official at the North Korean mission who declined to identify himself said: “I don’t think there is anyone available for this issue.”
The evasions raise fresh questions about China’s commitment and pose a major challenge to Trump, who has vowed to prevent North Korea from achieving its goal of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of delivering a nuclear explosive to American cities.
Pyongyang has already conducted five nuclear tests since 2006, and it has made huge strides in missile technology, conducting a record 26 ballistic missile tests in 2016, including the firing in April of a submarine-launched ballistic missile using solid fuel. 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears poised to test an ICBM with much greater reach.
“The unprecedented frequency and intensity of the nuclear and ballistic missile tests conducted during the reporting period helped the country to achieve technological milestones in weapons of mass destruction capability, and all indications are that this pace will continue,” according to the report’s findings.
The report — which is expected to be made public next week — “shows once again that the North Korean regime continues its methodical effort to develop a nuclear military program and the means to deliver the corresponding weapons,” said François Delattre, France’s U.N. ambassador. 

“It is a real challenge to the [nuclear] nonproliferation regime.”
The extent of Chinese companies’ role in enabling North Korea’s evasion of sanctions is detailed deep in the fine print of the still unpublished 105-page report. 

For instance, North Korea’s Daedong Credit Bank (DCB) and Korea Daesong Bank, both subject to U.S. and U.N. sanctions, continue to operate in the Chinese cities of Dalian, Dandong, and Shenyang in violation of U.N. resolutions. 

The panel suspects that one of the banks, Daedong, may in fact be majority-owned by Chinese shareholders, citing July 2011 documents indicating the sale of a controlling stake, 60 percent, to a Chinese firm.
Daedong “effectively accesses the international financial system through a network of offshore accounts and representative offices in China,” the panel report states. 

Its operations, according to the report, provide evidence that North Korean banks “manage to operate abroad through the establishment of front companies that are not registered as financial institutions but function as such.”
The United States sanctioned Daedong; its finance wing, DCB Finance; and their Dalian-based North Korean representative, Kim Chol Sam, in June 2013 for providing financial services to the Korea Mining Development Trading Corp., or KOMID, North Korea’s chief arms dealer.
Kim has established a series of front companies in China, including a Hong Kong firm he opened with a fake ID indicating he was a citizen of South Korea, according to the report. 

He has facilitated millions of dollars in “payments and loans between companies linked to DCB and exchanged large quantities of bulk cash transferred to China from the Democratic Republic of Korea.” 

The report says member states — an obvious reference to China — are obliged to expel Kim and “freeze all property, assets and other economic resources owned or controlled by him.”
The Chinese connection is at the center of an international web that stretches from Angola to Malaysia and the Caribbean and involves a large network of North Korean diplomats, entrepreneurs, smugglers, and foreign facilitators. 

The off-the-books trade includes the export of gold, coal, and rare-earth metals and the sale of rockets, Scud missile parts, government monuments, and high-tech battlefield communications equipment, among other things.
Last year, the panel’s investigations exposed trade in “encrypted military communications, man-portable air-defense systems, and satellite-guided missiles that may involve large teams of the country’s technicians deployed to assemble or service the banned items,” according to the report.
One example of a new niche market: North Korea buys cheap electronics in Hong Kong for a pittance and then turns them into military-grade radios it sells to developing countries for $8,000 a pop.
In July 2016, authorities from an unidentified nation seized an air shipment containing 45 boxes of battlefield radios, and assorted high-tech communications gear, from China to a technology company in Eritrea.
By the standards of North Korea’s multibillion-dollar black-market trade, the Eritrea haul was a drop in the bucket; North Korea earned $1.2 billion in coal sales to China last year. 

But the case provided insights into Pyongyang’s elaborate, and ever evolving, financial scheme to evade U.N. sanctions and stay two steps ahead of the United States and other key powers seeking to thwart North Korea’s illicit trade.
The equipment bore the trademark of Global Communications Co., or Glocom, a Malaysia-based front company for North Korean firm Pan Systems Pyongyang, which operates a network of front companies and agents in Malaysia and China. 

The company also has a branch in Singapore. 

Efforts to reach the company were unsuccessful.
But the head of Pan Systems in Singapore, Louis Low, told Reuters — which first reported on the scheme — that his company set up an office in Pyongyang in 1996 but that it severed relations with North Korea in 2010 and has had no dealings with Glocom. 

He suggested that North Koreans might still be using the company’s name without his agreement.
The mastermind behind the operation is North Korea’s premier intelligence agency, the Reconnaissance General Bureau, which runs Pan Systems and other front companies.
“The global network consisted of individuals, companies and bank accounts in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Middle East,” the report stated.

China-Singapore Tensions Spill Into Open After Customs Spat

• Protest over military shipment from Taiwan seen as warning
• Beijing concerned Singapore moving too far into U.S. orbit

Bloomberg News

Singapore's military vehicles seized in Hong Kong on Nov. 24. 

For decades, Singapore has walked a careful line between the U.S. and China. 

Now, the tiny Southeast Asian state is finding itself in Beijing’s cross hairs.
China has gone public in recent months to chastise Singapore for a perceived alignment with the U.S. against China’s actions in the disputed South China Sea. 

For Singapore, which the American Navy uses as a launch point for patrols of the strategic Strait of Malacca, the tensions cast doubt on its long-cherished ability to steer clear of political spats and focus on trade and investment.
The latest episode has the added wrinkle of Taiwan, which China considers its "territory". 

Nine Singaporean armored personnel carriers were seized by Hong Kong customs last week, with the vehicles en route from Taiwan on a commercial ship after being used in training exercises. 

Singapore army chief Major General Melvyn Ong said the military was still seeking to ascertain the exact reason the vehicles were impounded.
While Ong said Hong Kong was a common port of call for foreign militaries and noted “there have been no issues in the past,” the shipment elicited a formal protest from Beijing, which warned Singapore to abide by Hong Kong law and the One-China principle that China uses to guide its affairs with Taiwan.
“This is not the first time Singapore ships equipment from Taiwan through Hong Kong,” said Bilahari Kausikan, an ambassador-at-large for Singapore. 

The fact this particular consignment was picked up shows China wants to “send a signal not only to us, but to all” Southeast Asian nations. 

China’s long-term strategy is to turn Singapore into an ally and “mouthpiece” for its positions, he said.
China might be seeking to gain the advantage ahead of Donald Trump’s January inauguration as U.S. president -- and amid questions about the future of Barack Obama’s military and economic “pivot” to Asia -- by prodding countries like Singapore to stay out of political disputes like the South China Sea.
The spat highlights the difficulty for smaller Asian nations amid the broader tussle for regional influence between China and the U.S. 

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has warned several times that the region’s nations don’t want to take sides. 

While countries are building economic links with China, some have also sought the buffer of strategic relations with America.

Taiwan Summit
Singapore has strong historical and cultural ties to China, since the ancestors of many residents were traders from the mainland. 

The late Lee Kuan Yew -- the former prime minister and current leader’s father -- was regarded as a conduit for China to the rest of the region. 

Singapore last year hosted the first summit between presidents of China and Taiwan since their civil war.
“For quite some time, Singapore has been pretending to seek a balance between China and the U.S., yet has been taking Washington’s side in reality,” China’s state-run Global Times newspaper said in an editorial on Monday. 

“This has turned Singapore into a platform for Washington to contain and deter Beijing.”
Singapore has strengthened military ties with the U.S. over the past year, allowing Poseidon surveillance aircraft to operate out of its territory, as well as littoral combat ships. 

Neither Singapore nor the U.S. are claimants in the South China Sea.
The Global Times warned that Singapore’s actions could deal a “huge blow to bilateral ties, result in a possible adjustment to Beijing’s foreign policies and profoundly impact Singapore’s economy.” Singapore has said it wants a diplomatic solution to the maritime disputes, and for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to take a joint position.
China is Singapore’s largest trading partner, closely followed by the U.S. 

More than a fifth of Singapore’s gross domestic product is linked to China, according to Natixis SA. Singapore has a growing role as a gateway to Southeast Asia for Xi Jinping’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative, which aims to revive ancient trading routes to Europe. 

Still, the tensions won’t necessarily hit economic ties.
“The issue between Singapore and China needs to be handled between the two governments in accordance with the applicable laws and in the context of a deep and wide-ranging relationship,’’ Simon Tay, chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, said in a statement.
The military vehicles seized in Hong Kong lacked appropriate permits, and weren’t specifically declared on the ship’s manifest, the South China Morning Post reported Thursday, citing an unnamed person with knowledge of the matter. 

The Singaporean Defense Ministry said in a statement Thursday that Hong Kong authorities gave the shipping firm no formal reason for the seizure. 

It urged cooperation with the investigation.

Deep Relationship
For now, Singapore is reacting cautiously. 

No single issue would hijack Singapore’s “longstanding, wide-ranging relationship with China,” Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said at a forum this week in Singapore, according to the Straits Times.
Singapore hasn’t said it if plans to alert or stop military training in Taiwan. 

It has used the island for decades, in part because of its own limited size. 

China’s relationship with Taiwan has deteriorated since January, when the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party swept the more conciliatory Kuomintang from power.
Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said the seizure “kills two birds with one stone by demonstrating China’s displeasure with Taiwan’s military engagement with other countries.”

China paper says Singapore troop carriers should be "melted down"

Reuters

Armored vehicles belonging to the Singapore military seen covered with tarpaulin in Hong Kong.
Armoured troop carriers belonging to Singapore and currently impounded in Hong Kong should be "melted down", China's influential state-run tabloid the Global Times said on Tuesday, in its second swipe at the island nation in two days.
The nine troop carriers were impounded in Hong Kong last week en route back from Taiwan, sparking a rebuke to Singapore from China about maintaining military ties with Taiwan, which Beijing considers a breakaway province.
Ties between China and Singapore have been strained in recent months, particularly over the disputed South China Sea, where Beijing, which claims most of the waters, suspects Singapore of siding with the United States.
Beijing has accused Washington of deliberately creating tension by sailing its ships close to China's islands.
The Global Times, published by the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily, blasted Singapore's "carelessness" with the armoured vehicles, which it said reflected a failure to take seriously China's displeasure over its military relationship with Taiwan.
"Singapore's image in China is now so rotten that ordinary Chinese people think the best thing to do with the 'confiscated' armoured vehicles that 'walked right into our trap' is to send them to the steel mills to be melted down," it said.
The editorial, published in the paper's Chinese language edition, whose website attracts millions of visitors every day, adopts a similarly strident tone to a Monday commentary in its much less read English edition, accusing Singapore of "hypocrisy".
Singapore should use this "interlude" in its relations with China to find "enlightenment" rather than to provoke more resentment, it added.
"All incidents have causes -- to grasp and understand them is always wise," the editorial said.
Singapore and Taiwan have a longstanding military relationship that began in the 1970s and involves Taiwan being used as grounds for Singaporean infantry training.
Beijing has grudgingly tolerated this agreement since the China and Singapore re-established diplomatic relations in the 1990s.
The Global Times has a history of writing hyperbolic editorials.
In September, the paper embarked on a war of words with Singapore's ambassador to China, Stanley Loh, over a report that said Singapore had raised the South China Sea at summit in Venezuela, which the ambassador denied.
China has repeatedly warned Singapore against getting involved in the territorial dispute in which China asserts sovereignty over waters and islands claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.
Singapore has no claims, but as the biggest port in Southeast Asia, the city-state's open economy depends on continued free navigation in the area.

Singapore Urges China to Engage With Neighbors in Easing Tensions

Leader also to complete $1.7 billion deal to expand military training in Australia.
By ROB TAYLOR

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, left, and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull after addressing Australian lawmakers at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday. 
CANBERRA, Australia—Singapore urged Beijing to engage “constructively” with other regional players—including the U.S.—to ease tension in the disputed South China Sea, even as the city-state wraps up a deal here to sharpen its military skills.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told Australia’s Parliament at the start of a two-day visit on Wednesday that both allies wanted a “stable and orderly world in which countries big and small can prosper in peace.”
“This requires an open and inclusive social regional order where all the major powers can participate,” he said.
Mr. Lee described the U.S. as “playing a major role in fostering peace and stability in Asia,” and added: “We wish to strengthen our cooperation with China. We welcome China in engaging constructively with the region.”
China’s Foreign Ministry didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Lee’s Australian counterpart, Malcolm Turnbull, said Canberra and Singapore wanted regional stability and were “at one in defending the rule of law and rejecting the proposition that might is right.”
On Thursday, the two men were to complete a deal announced in May under which Singapore will spend US$1.7 billion to upgrade two Australian military bases at Townsville and Shoalwater Bay, north of Brisbane. 

Singapore plans to send 14,000 troops there each year for four-month training rotations, up from around 6,000 currently.
Singapore’s Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen said in April that rising nationalism and “this troubled peace around us” was driving the country’s military spending.
Singapore has faced growing diplomatic pressure from China as regional tensions flare over competing territorial claims in the South China Sea.
While Singapore has professed its neutrality, some in China see it as siding with U.S.-led efforts to pressure Beijing into accepting an international tribunal’s decision in July that rejected China’s claims. 

Beijing has denounced the ruling as illegitimate.
Singapore also regularly hosts U.S. Navy warships, including aircraft carriers and submarines, transiting through the region, while its military frequently trains with American counterparts.
The U.S. also has been using Australia’s vast training areas to carry out military exercises, as part of Washington’s rebalancing of forces to the Asia-Pacific region. 

The Marines and Air Force have been expanding their footprints in the northern Australian port of Darwin, while U.S. combat ships have also begun 10-month patrol rotations through Singapore.
Mr. Lee, in the first address to Australia’s Parliament by a Singaporean leader, said both nations were reliant on unfettered sea trade and wanted to “keep the region open.”
Both countries already hold regular joint military exercises, while a squadron of Republic of Singapore Air Force aircraft is based at an Australian Air Force base in Western Australia state.
“We feel quite at home in each other’s countries,” Mr. Lee said.
For its part, Australia in February outlined a 195 billion Australian dollar ($148 billion) military modernization centered on the navy.
The Asia-Pacific region will hold half the world’s submarines and advanced combat aircraft within the next two decades, strategic planners say, as Asian nations modernize their militaries and hedge against the possibility of a superpower conflict.
Singapore was Australia’s fifth-largest trade partner last year with two-way export and investment flows worth A$19 billion. 

The U.S. ranked third, while China was Australia’s most important trade relationship.

The new normal of Singapore’s relations with China

The death of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, a muscular China and the South China Sea dispute are pushing Sino-Singapore ties into a new chapter

By Peh Shing Huei

Xi Jinping (R) and Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (L) attend a meeting at the West lake State Guest House in Hangzhou, China's Zhejiang Province on September 2, 2016.

SINGAPORE -- Up till about a year ago, relations between Singapore and China could loosely be grouped into two eras: Mao and post-Mao.
In the first, which ran from the founding of People’s Republic in 1949 to 1978, ties between the pair of new nations were mostly cold.
Beijing, under the leadership of Mao Zedong, wanted to increase the loyalty of overseas Chinese to China and did not recognise the existence of an independent Singapore up to 1970.
Singapore feared China’s influence and support for pro-communist elements in its country. 

It didn’t help that its young prime minister Lee Kuan Yew was attacked by Chinese state propaganda as a “running dog of US and British imperialism”.
In 1978, the second era began. 

Two years after the death of Mao, new Chinese paramount leader Deng Xiaoping visited Singapore and met Mr Lee.
It paved the way for the end of the previously frosty and detached period, kicking off a fresh age when Singapore was viewed not only as a friend, but also as an early role model in China’s reform and opening up.
Despite occasional hiccups, ties grew stronger, trade spiked and exchanges intensified, culminating in the celebration of 25 years of diplomatic relations last year (2015).
The words of Singapore President Tony Tan Keng Yam to mark the occasion summed up this golden era: “Our pioneer leaders, particularly Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Mr Deng Xiaoping, laid a strong foundation for the bilateral relationship in the 1970s. Over a short span of 25 years, our relations have flourished and the friendship between our two peoples has never been stronger.”
That era is over.
A new normal in Sino-Singapore ties is beginning, characterised by a more pushy China, less wiggle room for Singapore and increased frequency in disputes – large and small.
Three factors account for this transition.

PASSING OF A STRONG MAN
First, the death of Mr Lee last year. 

As indicated by Dr Tan, the late leader was more than just a participant in Sino-Singapore relations. He was a builder.
His friendship with Deng and later Jiang Zemin, and his keen role as an honest broker in cross-strait relations earned him an exalted status in the eyes of the current Chinese leaders.
In May 2011, then Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping pressed on with a scheduled meeting with Mr Lee, despite the Singapore senior statesman stepping down from Cabinet four days earlier and not holding an official title. 

The signal was clear: Mr Lee held a special place in Beijing’s eyes.
Indeed, when Mr Lee died, Chinese state media gave extensive coverage rarely seen for foreign leaders, especially those from non-communist states.
Unfortunately, such a unique status is not transferable. 

Some of the goodwill stored by him for over four decades, across five generations of Chinese leaders, is following him to the grave.

END OF PEACEFUL RISE
Second, Sino-Singapore ties cannot escape the megatrend of an increasingly powerful and assertive China.
In the wake of the Beijing Olympics and global financial crisis in 2008, a more muscular China has chosen to flex its strength more frequently and openly.
While Beijing’s post-Mao diplomacy was governed by Deng’s stated preference to “hide capabilities” or taoguang yanghui, that philosophy has been suspended.
The rise of Xi after 2012, and his platform of a China Dream restoring the country to the pantheon of global powers, made it clear that Beijing was no longer content to play by others’ rules.
Its desire to contest the United States’ narrative and dominance, especially in Asia, has significantly reduced the space and options of smaller players.
Nations like Singapore now have to grapple with the interests of two giants, unlike the simpler post-Cold War days when Beijing was largely content for Washington to set the agenda.
Like it or not, in the new normal, Sino-Singapore relations will need to withstand the stress and pressure of being caught between a superpower and an aspiring one. 

The Thucydides’ Trap often ensnarls many smaller players.

CHOPPY WATERS IN THE BACKYARD
Third, Beijing and Singapore now have a glaring and thorny issue to tussle with – the South China Sea.
China lays claim to almost all of the sea and although Singapore is not a claimant state, its strong push for freedom of navigation in the waters has created much friction with Beijing.
The recent spat between the Singapore government and Global Times is merely the latest in an ongoing dispute which has shaken bilateral relations.
And the problem is unlikely to go away any time soon. 

The South China Sea is as much China’s backyard as it is Singapore’s.
ASEAN’s unavoidable role in the issue further locks Singapore into this quarrel with Beijing. 

After all, membership in the 10-nation bloc is a central feature of Singapore’s foreign policy.

THE NEW NORMAL
Taken together, the post-Lee era of Sino-Singapore relations promises to be more volatile than the preceding period.
Of course, it will not be totally bleak. 

It was only a month ago when Xi told Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hangzhou, that Sino-Singapore ties had always been a step ahead of China’s ties with other ASEAN countries.
And it was only a year since the two countries inked a deal to develop a third project in China together.
But there is no running away from a Beijing which is more prickly and confrontational.
It will challenge Singapore’s long-held strategy of making friends with all, and demands on the island nation to choose sides could be on the horizon.
In this new normal, nothing will be easy.