Tibet human rights bill

US House Passes Bill on Sanctions Against Chinese Officials for Meddling in Dalai Lama's Succession.

The bill will also prohibit China from opening any new consulate in the US until Beijing allows Washington to open its diplomatic station in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.

PTI

Washington/Beijing -- The US House of Representatives has passed a bill that authorises financial and travel sanctions against Chinese officials who interfere in the process of selecting the successor to the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader based in India.
Introduced by Congressman James P McGovern, Chairman of the House Rules Committee and the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, the bill was passed by a overwhelming vote of 392 to 22 on Tuesday.
The bill, if passed by the Senate and signed into law by the president, will also prohibit China from opening any new consulate in the US until Beijing allows Washington to open its diplomatic station in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.
According to the bill, the succession or reincarnation of Tibetan Buddhist leaders, including a future 15th Dalai Lama, is an exclusively religious matter that should be decided solely by the Tibetan Buddhist community.
Under the draft legislation, Washington would freeze any American asset and ban US travel of Chinese officials if they are found to be involved in "identifying or installing" a Dalai Lama approved by Beijing.
The Dalai Lama fled to India in early 1959 after a failed uprising against the Chinese rule.
While Beijing views the Dalai Lama as a separatist who seeks to split Tibet from China, the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize laureate says he only seeks greater rights for Tibetans, including religious freedom and autonomy.
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the bill sends Beijing a clear signal that it will be held accountable for interfering in Tibet's religious and cultural affairs.
The proposed legislation, she said, makes it clear that "Chinese officials who meddle in the process of recognising a new Dalai Lama will be subject to targeted sanctions, including those in the Global Magnitsky Act".
The Global Magnitsky Act allows the US to sanction foreign government officials implicated in human rights abuses anywhere in the world.
Pelosi said the bill deploys America's diplomatic weight to encourage a genuine dialogue between Tibetan leaders and Beijing.
"It is unacceptable that the Chinese government still refuses to enter into a dialogue with Tibetan leaders... We are supporting the Tibetan people's right to religious freedom and genuine autonomy by formally establishing as US policy that the Tibetan Buddhist community has the exclusive right to choose its religious leaders, including a future 15th Dalai Lama," she said.
Though introduced as a stand-alone piece of legislation, the bill serves as an amendment to the Tibet Policy Act of 2002, which codified the US position of support for the Tibetan people.
"Our bill updates and strengthens the Tibetan Policy Act of 2002 to address the challenges facing the Tibetan people. But perhaps as importantly, it reaffirms America's commitment to the idea that human rights matter. That we care about those who are oppressed, and we stand with those who are struggling for freedom," Congressman McGovern said on the House floor.
"It should be clear that we support a positive and productive US-China relationship, but it is essential that the human rights of all the people of China are respected by their government," he asserted.
Last year, the US Congress passed the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act, demanding that American journalists, diplomats and tourists be given the same freedom to travel to Tibet that Chinese officials have to travel freely in the US.
"The Dalai Lama should be commended for his decision to devolve political authority to elected leaders. The Tibetan exile community is also to be commended for adopting a system of self-governance with democratic institutions to choose their own leaders, including holding multiple 'free and fair' elections to select its Parliament and chief executive," McGovern said.
The bill also mandates the US State Department to begin collaborative and multinational efforts to protect the environment and water resources of the Tibetan Plateau.
"We are protecting Tibet's environmental and cultural rights: working with international governments and the business community to ensure the self-sufficiency of the Tibetan people and protect the environment and water resources on the Tibetan Plateau. It is really important to sustainability of our planet," Pelosi, a longtime advocate for Tibet, said.

U.S. House Approves Uighur Bill Demanding Sanctions On Senior Chinese Officials

The bill requires the U.S. president to condemn abuses against Muslims and call for the closure of concentration camps in the northwestern colony of East Turkestan.

Reuters


WASHINGTON -- The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a bill that would require the Trump administration to toughen its response to China’s crackdown on its Muslim minority, demanding sanctions on senior Chinese officials and export bans.
The Uighur Act of 2019 is a stronger version of a bill that angered Beijing when it passed the Senate in September.

It calls on President Donald Trump to impose sanctions for the first time on a member of China’s powerful politburo, even as he seeks a trade deal with Beijing.

The bill, passed 407 to 1 in the House, requires the U.S. president to condemn abuses against Muslims and call for the closure of concentration camps in the northwestern colony of East Turkestan.
It calls for sanctions against senior Chinese officials who are responsible and specifically names East Turkestan Communist Party Secretary Chen Quanguo, who, as a politburo member, is in the upper echelons of China’s leadership.

The revised bill still has to be approved by the Senate before being sent to President Trump. 

The White House has yet to say whether Trump would sign or veto the bill, which contains a provision allowing the president to waive sanctions if he determines this to be in the national interest.
The White House and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The bill comes days after President Trump signed into law congressional legislation supporting anti-government protesters in Hong Kong.
China responded to that on Monday by saying U.S. military ships and aircraft would not be allowed to visit Hong Kong, and announced sanctions against several U.S. non-government organizations.
Analysts say China’s reaction to passage of the Uighur bill could be stronger, though some doubted it would go so far as imposing visa bans on the likes of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has called China’s treatment of Uighurs “the stain of the century”.

“MODERN-DAY CONCENTRATION CAMPS”
Republican Congressman Chris Smith called China’s actions in “modern-day concentration camps” in East Turkestan “audaciously repressive,” involving “mass internment of millions on a scale not seen since the Holocaust.”

“We cannot be silent. We must demand an end to these barbaric practices,” Smith said, adding that Chinese officials must be held accountable for “crimes against humanity.”

Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi called China’s treatment of the Uighurs “an outrage to the collective conscience of the world.”
“America is watching,” she said.
Chris Johnson, a China expert at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, said passage of the bill could lead to a further blurring of lines between the trade issue and the broader deteriorating Sino-U.S. relationship, which China in the past has tended to keep separate.
“I think there’s a sort of piling on factor here that the Chinese are concerned about,” he said.
President Trump said on Monday the Hong Kong legislation did not make trade negotiations with China easier, but he still believed Beijing wanted a deal.
However, on Tuesday, he said an agreement might have to wait until after the U.S. presidential election in November 2020.
The House bill requires the president to submit to Congress within 120 days a list of officials responsible for the abuses and to impose sanctions on them under the Global Magnitsky Act, which provides for visa bans and asset freezes.
Democratic lawmaker Brad Sherman said it was “long past the point when this should have been done,” adding: “It should not be linked to ongoing negotiations on trade or any other issues.”
The bill also requires the secretary of state to submit a report on abuses in East Turkestan, to include assessments of the numbers held in re-education and forced labor camps. 

United Nations experts and activists say at least 1 million Uighurs and members of other largely Muslim minority groups have been detained in the camps.
It also effectively bans the export to China of items that can be used for surveillance of individuals, including facial and voice-recognition technology.

China's crimes against humanity

US Senate presses sanctions on China's treatment of Uighurs

AFP

More than one million mostly Muslim ethnic minorities have been rounded up into concentration camps in the tightly-controlled northwest colony, home to China's Uighur population.

WASHINGTON -- The US Senate has approved a Bill to press China on its treatment of Uighurs, requiring the US government to closely monitor the mass incarceration of the community and consider punishment of those responsible.
The Senate unanimously approved the so-called Uighur Human Rights Policy Act late Wednesday. It still needs passage by the House of Representatives, which is highly likely as the Bill enjoys wide bipartisan support.
The act would require US intelligence to produce a report within six months on the crackdown in East Turkestan, the western colony where as many as one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities are being held in concentration camps.
It would also establish a State Department special coordinator on East Turkestan and ask the FBI to assess reports of harassment by China of US citizens and residents of Uighur heritage.
The Bill also asks Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to consider sanctions on Chinese officials behind the policy, notably Chen Quanguo, the Communist Party chief for East Turkestan.
"It's long overdue for the United States to hold the Chinese government and Communist Party officials accountable for the systemic and egregious human rights abuses and crimes against humanity in East Turkestan," said Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican ally of Trump who co-sponsored the resolution.
The Trump administration has repeatedly criticised China, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently calling Beijing's treatment of Uighurs one of the "worst stains on the world."
But activists say that US actions have gone little beyond statements at a time that Trump is embroiled in multiple feuds with China, most notably on trade.
Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat who co-sponsored the Bill with Rubio, said the measure showed that the United States was not turning a blind eye even though the Trump administration "has not seen fit to make the tragic situation in East Turkestan a priority."
Rights groups and witnesses accuse China of forcibly trying to draw Uighurs away from their Islamic customs and integrate them into the majority Han culture.
After initially denying their existence, Beijing now defends the camps, which it calls "vocational education centers."

Republicans Look to Punish Chinese Leaders Over Hong Kong Crackdown

Senior administration officials and lawmakers are brainstorming ways to punish China for the clampdown in Hong Kong.

By Erin Banco


Donald Trump hasn’t exactly gone after China’s chiefs for cracking down on protesters in Hong Kong. 

Trump said earlier this month that he wanted to see the situation “worked out in a very humanitarian fashion.” 

And over the weekend at the G7 meeting in France he praised again Xi Jinping as a “great leader.”
But behind the scenes, senior officials in the Trump administration and lawmakers on Capitol Hill are quietly brainstorming ways to officially punish China for the clampdown in Hong Kong and to deter Beijing from deploying military forces to directly and violently confront protesters in the streets, according to three government sources with knowledge of those efforts. 

The wide-ranging discussions—which include the possibility of imposing travel bans and asset freezes on Chinese leaders—come just two weeks after Beijing’s troops began to amass outside Hong Kong.
“Since Day One of this administration, China has been a national security concern. The protests in Hong Kong are just another example of why we should be focusing our attention on finding ways to push back against Beijing,” said one senior administration official. 

“We’ve been taking other routes to confront China, especially economically. This would be another step in the game plan. The draft legislation is in a lot of ways going to look like some of the sanctions we implemented with Russia.”
Republicans in the Senate and the House of Representatives are in the midst of drafting legislation, after consulting with senior officials in the ranks of the departments of State and Treasury, to introduce legislation that would hit  with sanctions Chinese entities that support the suppression of protests in Hong Kong. 

The legislation would be the first of its kind to address the crackdown head-on by going after some of China’s most influential and well-connected entities. 

Members of Congress have for weeks sought out ways to respond to the Beijing leadership’s role in the clampdown in Hong Kong, fielding expert opinions from experts in the international sanctions and foreign policy fields.
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), along with both his Republican and Democrat colleagues in the Senate, re-introduced the Hong Kong and Human Rights Act in June. 

The bill would make it harder for Hong Kong to keep its trade status with the U.S. if it did not maintain autonomy from China. 

Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ) introduced the bill in the House of Representatives.
But other lawmakers on the Hill are considering a more direct approach to confronting China.
Three individuals familiar with the effort said lawmakers view the legislation as a way of establishing a “red line” that would deter China from cracking down on protesters in the future by threatening increasingly steep political and financial punishments. 

Two sources said lawmakers are considering a system whereby Congress could review the list of Chinese companies every several years, adding some and losing others depending on the circumstance.
“The administration has been looking at options for some time now,” one senior Trump official said. “But now things are starting to move forward and the legislation on the Hill will crystalize once Congress comes back. We’ve been looking at smart ways to address the crackdown and this is definitely a start.”
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) has looked over draft legislation for new Chinese sanctions and is considering sponsoring some form of it within the next few months, according to two sources familiar.
In July he delivered an 11-minute speech in which he called out the Chinese government for their involvement.
“If the Chinese officials in Beijing, the communists Chinese who rule mainland China, if they have their way, they will extinguish these rights for the people of Hong Kong,” he said. 

Discussions on Capitol Hill are taking place as the U.S. and China continue to engage in a tit-for-tat trade war. 

President Trump said earlier this month that if China used violence in Hong Kong it would “hurt” trade talks.
“For the most part the administration, and the White House in particular, has been trying to keep the trade talks front and center when it comes to China policy,” one senior administration official said. “But really the trade talks and our response to the protests in Hong Kong are tied. The threat of sanctions is really starting to scare China and so we might begin to see trade talks go a little smoother.”

US Lawmakers Rebuke Beijing’s Tough Words on Hong Kong Protests

BY CATHY HE AND EVA FU

As Beijing escalates its tough rhetoric in condemning Hong Kong protesters, U.S. lawmakers are raising the possibility of sanctions on China.
Hong Kong mass protests have entered their third month as locals continue to call for the withdrawal of a bill that would allow the Chinese regime to transfer individuals to the mainland to face trial in its opaque legal system.
Many fear that the bill would signal the erosion of the city’s autonomy, which was promised by Beijing upon its transfer of sovereignty from Britain in 1997.

In recent weeks, protesters’ relentless rallies and marches—often contained by local police firing tear gas, rubber bullets, and sponge grenades at crowds—in addition to an organized strike on Aug. 5 that paralyzed the city after thousands took leave from work, have drawn the ire of Beijing.

This photo taken on Aug. 6, 2019 shows Chinese paramilitary police officers taking part in a drill in Shenzhen in China’s southern Guangdong province, across the border from Hong Kong.

During an Aug. 7 symposium held in Shenzhen city by the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office and the Liaison Office, Beijing’s representative office in the territory, a senior official called the Hong Kong protests “a color revolution” that needed to be quelled, using a term that refers to popular uprisings in former Soviet countries.
“It is now a ‘life-or-death’ fight for the very future of Hong Kong. … There is no room for retreat,” said Zhang Xiaoming, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office. 

Shenzhen, in southern China, is just across the border from Hong Kong.
He warned that Beijing authorities have “ample methods” and “sufficient strength” to “promptly settle any possible turmoil.”
His words were the Chinese regime’s latest hint about using force to suppress the protests.
The Chinese military’s garrison in Hong Kong released a video on July 31 of troops participating in an “anti-riot” exercise, firing at an unarmed group of people. 

A soldier is seen holding a banner with the words “Warning, stop charging or we use force,” similar to what Hong Kong police have used during protests.
On Aug. 6, more than 12,000 police officers gathered for a drill in Shenzhen to “maintain national political security and social stability.” 

The video footage was posted onto the Shenzhen police’s official Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, showing police in riot gear clashing with civilians dressed in black shirts and yellow construction helmets—the trademark attire of Hong Kong demonstrators.
Asked by a reporter at an Aug. 6 press briefing whether Beijing would deploy troops to “control” the Hong Kong protests, Yang Guang, spokesperson for Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, did not give a straight answer, but said that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is “a strong force that defends every inch of its sacred territory.”
Gordon G. Chang, China expert and author of “The Coming Collapse of China,” told The Epoch Times in an Aug. 5 interview that deploying troops would be a last resort for the Chinese leadership.
“Hong Kong is not armored-car country,” Chang said.
“The PLA … and the People’s Armed Police would be in a quagmire [if they were deployed], because you’ve got kids [protesters] who are willing to die. This would be an awful situation—horrific.”
He said the communist regime may quell protests with force if it believed that “the Hong Kong protests [were] creating a contagion, inspiring people in the mainland to protest.”
Chinese dictator Xi Jinping may choose this route “if he feels the existence of the Communist Party is at stake,” Chang said.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) at a border security discussion hosted by Center for Immigration Studies in Washington on July 30, 2019. 

US Response
U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said that “the United States will be compelled to reassess our relationship with China in fundamental ways” should the Chinese regime choose to respond to the Hong Kong protests with military force.
“The Tiananmen Square massacre highlighted the Chinese Communist Party’s brutality and treachery, which they have employed for thirty years to steal our jobs and threaten our security,” the senator said in a statement, referring to Beijing’s decision to send troops to suppress student protesters at Tiananmen Square in 1989, where thousands were killed.
“If Beijing cracks down on Hong Kong, the United States ought not make the same mistake again.”
He said that should the Chinese regime impose martial law on the city, the U.S. government should be prepared to respond in six ways: 

1. halt trade negotiations with China; 
2. sanction senior Chinese Communist Party officials; 
3. bar Party leaders and their families from entering the United States; 
4. curtail student visas for Chinese nationals; 
5. demand the expulsion of Chinese officials from leadership positions in international organizations; and 
6. revise U.S. legislation that grants Hong Kong special trading privileges.

Tom Cotton
✔@SenTomCotton
Aug 7, 2019
The Chinese Communist Party is preparing for a violent crack-down on civilian protestors in Hong Kong. If Beijing imposes martial law in Hong Kong, there must be serious consequences.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3021597/chinese-police-mass-12000-anti-riot-officers-shenzhen-drill …

Chinese police mass 12,000 anti-riot officers in Shenzhen for drill
Security forces shown in live broadcast tackling ‘demonstrators’ who wear Hong Kong-style garb – ‘anti-mob’ tactics are in readiness for the 70th anniversary of People’s Republic.scmp.com


Tom Cotton
✔@SenTomCotton
Tiananmen Square was just 30 years ago. America didn’t respond strongly enough when peaceful protesters were gunned down and run over by Chinese tanks. We won’t make the same mistake if the CCP moves against Hong Kong.

https://www.cotton.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=1192 …

Cotton Warns Chinese Communists Against Intervening in Hong Kong Protestscotton.senate.gov
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China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying, at a regular press briefing on Aug. 7, slammed Cotton and other U.S. politicians, questioning the lawmakers’ “true intentions behind the Hong Kong issue.”

She responded similarly to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s comments in support of the protesters.
Pelosi said in an Aug. 6 statement, “The people of Hong Kong deserve the true autonomy that was promised, with the full rights guaranteed by the Hong Kong Basic Law [the city’s constitution] and international agreements.”Protestors stand off against riot police after a student’s arrest at Sham Shui Po district on Aug. 6, 2019 in Hong Kong, China. 

Travel Warnings
On Aug. 7 evening, the U.S. State Department issued a travel advisory for Hong Kong, warning travelers to “exercise increased caution” due to civil unrest.
It warned that some protests have “turned confrontational or resulted in violent clashes,” sometimes spilling into neighborhoods outside of planned demonstrations.
Australia also issued a travel warning for Hong Kong on Aug. 7, saying people should “exercise a high degree of caution.”
“There is a risk of violent confrontation between protesters and police, or criminally linked individuals, particularly at unauthorized protests,” said Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in the advisory.
Britain, Japan, Ireland, and Singapore have issued similar travel warnings since July.
The travel advisory came after Hong Kong police clashed on Aug. 6 with hundreds of protesters in the district of Sham Shui Po. 

Locals had gathered outside the nearby police station to protest the police’s arrest of a local university student union leader.
Police said the Hong Kong Baptist University student was detained on suspicion of possessing offensive weapons—10 laser pointers. 

The university’s student union, in a Facebook post, accused the police of fabricating the charges in order to arrest people arbitrarily and called for the student leader’s immediate release.
Australia’s DFAT said protests had become more unpredictable and were expected to continue. 

The advisory strongly recommended that travelers avoid large public gatherings, adding that the risk was greater at night and on weekends.
Hong Kong police have arrested 568 people and fired around 1,800 tear gas canisters since mass protests began in June, according to an Aug. 6 police briefing.

US Senate bill proposes sanctions for involvement in illegal activities in South and East China seas

• The legislation reiterates America’s commitment to holding the Chinese government accountable for bullying and coercing other nations in the region
• The act would allow the seizure of US-based assets of those developing projects in areas contested by Asean members

Owen Churchill

Ships from four nations – the Philippines, US, Japan and India – sail together in the South China Sea during a training exercise on May 9. 

US senators from both political parties will reintroduce legislation on Thursday committing the government to punish Chinese individuals and entities involved in Beijing’s illegal and dangerous activities in the South and East China seas.
If it becomes law, the “South China Sea and East China Sea Sanctions Act” would require the government to seize US-based financial assets and revoke or deny US visas of anyone engaged in “actions or policies that threaten the peace, security or stability” of areas in the South China Sea that are contested by one or more members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
“This bipartisan bill strengthens efforts by the US and our allies to counter Beijing’s illegal and dangerous militarisation of disputed territory that it has seized in the South China Sea,” Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican who is leading the legislation with Democratic Senator Benjamin Cardin, told the South China Morning Post.
“This legislation reiterates America’s commitment to keeping the region free and open for all countries, and to holding the Chinese government accountable for bullying and coercing other nations in the region.”
The bill would require the US secretary of state to provide Congress with a report every six months identifying any Chinese person or company involved in construction or development projects in areas in the South China Sea contested by Asean members. 

Activities targeted by the bill include land reclamation, the making of islands, lighthouse construction and the building of mobile communication infrastructure.
Those who are complicit or engaged in activities that threaten the “peace, security, or stability” of those regions or areas of the East China Sea administered by Japan or the Republic of Korea would also be subject to sanctions, the bill says.

The legislation was previously introduced in 2017 but never moved from the Foreign Relations Committee to the full Senate, which, along with the House of Representatives, must approve a bill before it goes to the president to be signed into law.
Those supporting the new bill are hoping for a different outcome this time, with some drawing confidence from a new Foreign Relations Committee chairman – Senator James Risch – who has made scrutiny of Beijing’s policies and practices a staple of his tenure since taking over from fellow Republican Bob Corker in January.
“We’re very optimistic, given chairman Risch’s interest in China issues,” a spokeswoman for Rubio said on Wednesday, adding that there would be no difference in language between Thursday’s version of the bill and the one introduced in 2017.
Also bolstering hopes that the legislation will progress is rising hawkishness towards Beijing among lawmakers in both houses of Congress and on both sides of the political aisle.
Across a broad range of matters, including national security, trade and intellectual property, the administration’s position on China has won support from even the most ardent critics of US President Donald Trump. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, for instance, has applauded Trump’s waging of a costly trade war with Beijing, including his escalating use of tariffs.
In a possible indicator of increased support for congressional resistance to Beijing, the current bill is co-sponsored by 13 Democratic and Republican senators, a significant increase from the two who signed on to the 2017 legislation.

Bonnie Glaser of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a think tank in Washington, said it was “right that we now have a very harsh atmosphere in the Congress when it comes to China,” but predicted that the “obligatory, binding language” of the legislation would have to be toned down for it to make its way to the president’s desk.
“I think most administrations tend to baulk at Congress having that much say over foreign policy,” said Glaser, a senior adviser for Asia and specialist in China’s foreign and security policy at CSIS. 

“If it ever gets support within the Senate, there’ll probably have to be a compromise with the House. My guess is that it would not ultimately be passed in this form.”

Marco Rubio says the new bill will strengthen efforts to counter Beijing’s illegal and dangerous militarisation of disputed territory in the South China Sea. 

But it was “important to have this discussion and debate,” said Glaser, who noted that the South China Sea had not been on the “front burner” of the Trump administration’s policy agenda. 

“And so introducing it in Congress might not be a bad idea.”
Reintroducing the legislation had been on Rubio’s radar for about a month, said the senator’s spokeswoman, though it had become “very timely” given the US Navy’s recent “freedom of navigation operations” (FONOPs) in the region, each of which has elicited firm resistance from Beijing and, in some cases, close encounters with Chinese naval vessels.
After a US destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles of the disputed Scarborough Shoal on Sunday, the second of such FONOPs in a month, Beijing said the ship’s actions had “violated China’s sovereignty and undermined the peace, security and good order in the relevant sea areas”.
The Trump administration has done a much better job at conducting regular and frequent FONOPs than previous administrations, said Glaser, adding that the US government had been successful in encouraging other stakeholders in the region to engage in joint cruises and exercises.
Earlier this month, for instance, the US conducted naval drills with India, Japan and the Philippines, a joint show of force that Glaser characterised as “unusual”, adding she was “glad to see [it]”.

The Chinese warship Linyi took part in six days of joint naval exercises with Russian vessels in the East China Sea. 

China's Final Solution

Scholars condemn China for mass detention of Muslim Uighurs

Reuters

Paramilitary policemen gesture to stop a photographer from taking pictures as they stand guard after an explosives attack hit downtown Urumqi in the East Turkestan colony May 23, 2014. 

WASHINGTON -- Countries must hit China with sanctions over the mass detention of ethnic Uighurs, hundreds of scholars said on Monday, warning that a failure to act would signal acceptance of “psychological torture of innocent civilians”.
Beijing has in recent months faced an outcry from activists, academics and foreign governments over mass detentions and strict surveillance of the Muslim Uighur minority and other ethnic groups in the restive western colony of East Turkestan.
In August, a U.N. human rights panel said it had received many credible reports that a million or more Uighurs and other minorities are being held in a “massive internment camp that is shrouded in secrecy” in the colony.
Representatives from a group of 278 scholars in various disciplines from dozens of countries called on China at a news briefing in Washington to end its detention policies, and for sanctions directed at key Chinese leaders and security companies linked to the abuses.
“This situation must be addressed to prevent setting negative future precedents regarding the acceptability of any state’s complete repression of a segment of its population, especially on the basis of ethnicity or religion,” the group said in a statement.
Countries should expedite asylum requests from East Turkestan’s Muslim minorities, as well as “spearhead a movement for U.N. action aimed at investigating this mass internment system and closing the camps”, it said.
After initial denials about the detention camps, Chinese officials have said some people "guilty of minor offences" were being sent to “vocational” training centers, where they are taught "work skills" and "legal knowledge" aimed at curbing militancy.
Michael Clarke, an East Turkestan expert at Australian National University who signed the statement, told reporters that China sought international respect for its weight in global affairs.
“The international community needs to demonstrate to Beijing that it will not actually get that while it’s doing this to a significant portion of its own citizenry,” Clarke said.

US legislators to urge China sanctions over East Turkestan crackdown

Proposed bill will urge President Trump to condemn crackdown on Uighurs, press for ban on sale of surveillance technology.
AL JAZEERA
People mingle in the old town of Kashgar in East Turkestan in March last year.

US legislators will introduce legislation on Wednesday urging the Trump administration to respond more strongly to China's crackdown on Uighur Muslims, including possible sanctions.
Te bill will also ask President Donald Trump to condemn China's actions in the East Turkestan colony, call for the appointment of a new "special coordinator" for US policy on the issue, and press for a ban on the export of technology that Beijing could use in surveillance and mass detention of the minority Uighurs, according to a copy seen by Reuters news agency.
The legislators want the government to consider human rights-related sanctions against East Turkestan Party Secretary Chen Quanguo, who is also a member of the powerful politburo, and other officials "credibly alleged to be responsible" for the security crackdown.
"Chinese government officials should be held accountable for their complicity in this evil, and US businesses should be barred from helping China create a hi-tech police state in East Turkestan," said Chris Smith, a Republican representative and one of the sponsors of the bipartisan legislation that will be presented in both the upper and lower houses of Congress.
Trump's senior aides have become more vocal recently in their criticism of China's treatment of its minority Muslims in East Turkestan.
Any decision to impose sanctions, however, would be a rare move on human rights grounds against China, with which the Trump administration is engaged in a bitter trade war.
The White House and the Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the legislative proposal, which is also being supported by Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Democratic Senator Bob Menendez.

Global Magnitsky Act
Beijing has dismissed accusations of human rights abuses in East Turkestan and urged the United States and other countries to stay out of its internal affairs.
China's top diplomat said earlier on Tuesday the world should ignore "gossip" about developments in East Turkestan and trust the local authorities when asked if Beijing would allow international observers to inspect camps where Muslims are believed to be held.
Western countries -- including Canada, France, Germany, and the US -- have urged China to shut down the camps in East Turkestan, where as many as one million members of the Uighur minority and other Muslims are being held.
The Trump administration for several months has been considering targeted sanctions against Chinese senior officials and companies linked to the crackdown, US officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The measures could be imposed under the Global Magnitsky Act, a law that allows the US government to target human rights violators around the world by freezing any US assets, imposing bans on US travel, and prohibiting Americans from doing business with them.
Uighur activists in the US, meanwhile, marked their community's "independence day" with a protest march in Washington, DC on Tuesday.
American-Uighur Aydin Anwar told Al Jazeera that China was attempting to "wipe out" the Uighur identity.
November 12 is the 74th and 85th anniversary of two short-lived Uighur republics which were established in territory that is now part of China.

Axis of Evil: North Korea, China, and Iran are not happy with President Trump’s foreign policy

The three countries heavily criticized the US over the last 72 hours for its tough economic policies meant to change their behaviors.
By Alex Ward
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s regime is clearly unhappy with the state of nuclear talks with the United States. 

President Donald Trump has taken hard-line stances against North Korea, China, and Iran — and in the last 72 hours, each country pushed back on America’s pressure campaign.
On Friday, North Korea threatened to build more nuclear weapons unless the US offers some sanctions relief.

Three days later, Chinese dictator Xi Jinping said Beijing would survive the trade war with America and continue exporting goods around the world.

Also on Monday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani vowed to “break” Trump’s latest and greatest imposition of financial penalties.
Each country has somewhat similar reasons for their anger: The US has imposed stringent economic penalties on them to force a change in behavior. 

Washington sanctioned Pyongyang to force North Koreans to dismantle their nuclear program; maintains tariffs on Chinese goods until the country opens its market to US companies; and has increased sanctions on Iran to get the country to abandon its aggressive foreign policy and pursuit of a nuclear weapon.
It’s not surprising that all three countries would bristle at America’s stances toward them. 

North Korea says it may build new nuclear weapons
The Trump administration’s strategy toward North Korea is to impose “maximum pressure” — or, mounting economic penalties and diplomatic isolation — on Pyongyang so that it has no choice but to stop its pursuit of nuclear weapons. 

The strategy has led to a sharp decline in North Korea’s economy, including a drop-off in its ability to export top goods like seafood products and iron.
But North Korea says it first wants to end hostilities between the two countries, mainly through a “peace declaration.” 

That document would be symbolic, as both sides would agree to no longer fight each other in the Korean War that ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. 

Pyongyang claims that declaration would make it feel safer and may therefore dismantle its nuclear arsenal down the line.
The two sides are extremely far apart, making it much harder to reach a compromise, Harry Kazianis, a North Korea expert at the Center for the National Interest, told me.
Still, President Trump promised North Korean leader Kim Jong Un he’d sign the peace declaration during their Singapore summit last June. 

The problem is there’s been very little progress, which has locked Washington and Pyongyang in a diplomatic stalemate while sanctions continue to cripple North Korea’s economy.
North Korea is angry about that; a top official put out a scathing statement on Friday letting the US know it.
“The U.S. thinks that its oft-repeated ‘sanctions and pressure’ lead to ‘denuclearization.’ We cannot help laughing at such a foolish idea,” Kwon Jong Gun, a top North Korean diplomat focused on American relations, wrote in the state-run Korean Central News Agency on Friday. 

“If the U.S. keep behaving arrogant without showing any change in its stand,” Pyongyang could start “building up nuclear forces.”

US intelligence, however, shows that North Korea is still making more bombs, but aims to hide that from the US and the international community. 

Now Pyongyang wants to let the Trump administration know the window for denuclearization is closing.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded to the statement on “Fox News Sunday.”
“We’ve seen this as we go through negotiations. Stray voltage happens to be all around us,” he told anchor Chris Wallace. 

“We know with whom we’re negotiating. We know what their positions are. And President Trump’s made his position very clear, no economic relief until we have achieved our ultimate objective.”
Pompeo will meet with Kim Yong Chol, arguably the second-most powerful person in North Korea, later this week for another round of talks.
Robert Carlin, a leading North Korea expert at the Stimson Center think tank, noted in the Koreas-focused 38 North website on Monday that Kwon had omitted any reference to Trump. 

That indicates “the overall tone in Kwon’s piece was not so much of confrontation but of ridicule about the US position,” Carlin wrote.

“I am worried that the detente of the last few months could be in serious trouble,” Kazianis said.

China is angry with the US over the trade war
President Trump has placed around $250 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods — about half the total worth of goods the US imports from China — this year in his escalating trade war. 

It’s part of a strategy to force Beijing to let American companies freely sell to the country’s consumers, compel it to stop stealing the intellectual property of US businesses, and cripple China’s economy in the process.
That, naturally, has rankled Xi, China’s increasingly authoritarian leader. 

During a Monday speech intended to kick off the China International Import Expo, Xi took thinly veiled shots at the US — and President Trump specifically without saying his name.
People who dislike China’s economic practices “should not just point fingers at others to gloss over their own problems,” he told the audience. 

“They should not hold a flashlight that only exposes others while doing nothing themselves.”
He did promise to cut import taxes and export around $30 trillion in products and services over the next decade and a half. 

But he also made sure to note that China would survive mounting economic pressure from the United States.
“Great winds and storms may upset a pond, but not an ocean,” Xi said. 

“After 5,000 years of trials and tribulations, China is still here. Looking ahead, China will be here to stay.”

It’s quite a defiant message, and it comes at a particularly tense time. 

Washington-Beijing relations have soured recently as the US rejects any talks with China to end the trade war, hoping the standoff will compel the country to cave to American demands. 

What’s more, President Trump and Xi plan to meet during the G20 summit later this month, and it’s possible that Xi’s speech could make that meeting a bit awkward.
It also behooves both leaders to end the spat soon. 

Last month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) — a world body that helps keep the global economy stable — released a major report that projected the world’s economy will grow by 3.7 percent this year, which is 0.2 points lower than they had estimated in April. 

That’s the same rate of growth as in 2017, but the trade war is a major reason for the slight dip in expectations.
The IMF also noted that the trade war could curb China’s economic growth by about 2 percent over the next two years. 

If true, it would be a major blow to China’s economy, which prioritizes continued growth above all else.
It’s no wonder, then, that Xi is upset.

Iran says it will “break” US sanctions
At midnight on Monday, the Trump administration reimposed sanctions on Iran that were lifted once the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was in place. 

The goal, as the administration said, is to force Tehran to stop funding proxies in the Middle East, supporting Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, stealing money from regular Iranians, and improving its nuclear program.
In effect, the US wants Iran to change everything about itself — or else.
Iranian leaders, and especially President Hassan Rouhani, have shown their displeasure with the Trump administration’s decision.
“We will proudly break the sanctions,” Rouhani said during a meeting of Iranian economic officials on Monday. 

That may be tough, as the US just placed penalties on more than 700 people, organizations, and vessels — mainly targeting the country’s oil, banking, and shipping industries — stopping them from accessing the international banking network and the US market.
Rouhani remains defiant despite the economic stranglehold. 

“We have to make Americans understand that they cannot talk to the great Iranian nation with the language of pressure and sanctions,” he said during a televised address.
While the sanctions are meant to hurt the regime — and could do so — they currently impact regular Iranians the most. 

In October, a top UN court ruled that the US had to ease its sanctions on Iran for humanitarian reasons. 

Specifically, the US was told it could not restrict exports to Iran of food, medicine, and other items because it threatened the lives of ordinary citizens there.
It’s unclear if the pressure on the Iranian people could lead to a revolt that would eventually topple the regime, but it seems that’s what the US administration wants. 

John Bolton advocated as much before he joined the administration as national security adviser, although officials deny regime change is the goal.

Orwell in China

China’s Big Brother drafted into trade war
By Pete Sweeney

HONG KONG -- China’s Big Brother is getting dragged into the trade war by President Donald Trump. 

Export controls and sanctions are under consideration for companies whose technology helps Beijing monitor Muslim minorities. 

Despite the surprise of this U.S. administration weighing in on Chinese human rights issues at last, the policy could hit U.S. suppliers and further curb enthusiasm for related Chinese stocks.
Efforts by the People’s Republic to protect itself from internal threats have surged in recent years. 

Net domestic security spending reached nearly $200 billion in 2017, more than twice as much as a decade ago, according to an estimate by academic Adrian Zenz. 

It has concentrated on restive regions such as East Turkestan, where there have been violent incidents between the Muslim Uighur minority and immigrants from the ethnic Han majority. 

The United Nations has criticized policies including the detention of an estimated 1 million Uighur civilians. 

Massive purchase orders for monitoring equipment and software used for such purposes represent a big business opportunity for manufacturers and developers, domestic and foreign. 

State-owned Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology, for example, has developed camera technology specifically for identifying ethnic minorities, according to trade publication IPVM.
Its shares were the most actively traded in September over the Hong Kong-Shenzhen cross-border stock trading mechanism. 

Venture capitalists are eagerly shopping for security startups. 

Alphabet-owned Google is considering rolling out a censored Chinese version of its search engine, which would almost certainly be forced to block overseas content about activity in East Turkestan.
Under the restrictions being contemplated by the U.S. Commerce Department, the likes of Intel may be forced to stop selling to $39 billion Hikvision. 

Nvidia, another American chipmaker and Hikvision partner, generated $1.5 billion of revenue in China in the first half of the year. 

Thermo Fisher Scientific supplied East Turkestan police with DNA sequencing equipment, according to Human Rights Watch. 

After monster rallies last year, shares of Hikvision and peers including Dahua Security have been sliding since March. 

These latest developments could keep the pressure on them.

U.S. lawmakers back sanctions over China's Muslim Final Solution

Reuters

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) asks a question of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during Pompeo's appearance before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing titled "An Update on American Diplomacy to Advance Our National Security Strategy" on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 25, 2018.

WASHINGTON -- The Republican leaders of a U.S. congressional commission on China urged President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday to broaden sanctions on Chinese officials over its treatment of minority Muslims in the East Turkestan region.
In a letter on Wednesday, Senator Marco Rubio, chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and Representative Chris Smith, the co-chairman, asked Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross to expand the list of Chinese entities barred from purchasing equipment that could be used for surveillance.
“Given the national integration of China’s state security apparatus, we believe there should ... be a presumption of denial for any sale of technology or equipment that would make a direct and significant contribution to the police surveillance and detection system (in East Turkestan),” Rubio and Smith said.
The U.S. State Department on Tuesday expressed deep concern over China’s “worsening crackdown” on minority Muslims in the East Turkestan region, as the Trump administration considered sanctions against Chinese senior officials and companies linked to allegations of human rights abuses.
Discussions have gained momentum within the U.S. government over possible economic penalties in response to reports of mass detentions of ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims, which has prompted a growing international outcry.

Chinazism

U.S. Weighs Sanctions Against Chinese Officials Over Muslim Detention Camps

By Edward Wong

The Id Kah mosque in China’s East Turkestan colony. The mass detentions in East Turkestan are the worst collective human rights abuse in China in decades.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is considering sanctions against Chinese senior officials and companies to punish Beijing’s detention of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Uighurs and other minority Muslims in large internment camps, according to current and former American officials.
The economic penalties would be one of the first times the Trump administration has taken action against China because of human rights violations. 

United States officials are also seeking to limit American sales of surveillance technology that Chinese security agencies and companies are using to monitor Uighurs throughout northwest China.
Discussions to rebuke China for its treatment of its minority Muslims have been underway for months among officials at the White House and the Treasury and State Departments. 

But they gained urgency two weeks ago, after members of Congress asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to impose sanctions on seven Chinese officials.
Until now, Trump has largely resisted punishing China for its human rights record, or even accusing it of widespread violations. 

If approved, the penalties would fuel an already bitter standoff with Beijing over trade and pressure on North Korea’s nuclear program.
Last month, a United Nations panel confronted Chinese diplomats in Geneva over the detentions. 

The camps for Chinese Muslims have been the target of growing international criticism and investigative reports, including by The New York Times.
Human rights advocates and legal scholars say the mass detentions in the northwest colony of East Turkestan are the worst collective human rights abuse in China in decades. 

Since taking power in 2012, Xi Jinping has steered China on a hard authoritarian course, which includes increased repression of large ethnic groups in western China, notably the Uighurs and Tibetans.
On Sunday, Human Rights Watch released a detailed report that concluded that the violations were of a “scope and scale not seen in China since the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution.” 

The report, based on interviews with 58 former residents of East Turkestan, recommended that other nations impose targeted sanctions on Chinese officials, withhold visas and control exports of technology that could be used for abuses.
Any new American sanctions would be announced by the Treasury Department after governmentwide consultations, including with Congress.

Chinese Muslims in the camps are forced to attend daily classes, denounce aspects of Islam, study mainstream Chinese culture and pledge loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party. 

Some detainees who have been released have described torture by security officers.

Uighurs and their supporters near the United Nations in March protested Chinese surveillance of the ethnic group throughout northwest China.

Chinese officials have labeled the process “transformation through education” or “counter-extremism education.” 

But they have not acknowledged that large groups of Muslims are being detained.
The discussions over the mass detentions in East Turkestan highlight American efforts on issues that diverge from the president’s priorities. 

Trump has rarely made statements criticizing foreign governments for human rights abuses or anti-liberal policies, and in fact has praised authoritarian leaders, including Xi.
The Trump administration has confronted China over economic issues — the two countries are in the middle of a prolonged trade war — but has said little about rampant abuses by its security forces.
“The scale of it — it’s massive,” Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, said of the Muslim detention centers in an interview. 

“It involves not only intimidating people on political speech, but also a desire to strip people of their identity — ethnic identity, religious identity — on a scale that I’m not sure we’ve seen in the modern era.”
Ethnic Uighurs are a Turkic-speaking group that is mostly Sunni Muslim. 

With a population of around 11 million, Uighurs are the largest ethnic group in East Turkestan. 

Some of the desert oasis towns and villages that they consider their homeland are being emptied out as security officers force many Uighurs into large detention centers for weeks or months.
Gulchehra Hoja, a Uighur-American journalist who works for Radio Free Asia, which is financed by the United States government, said at a congressional hearing in July that two dozen of her family members in East Turkestan were missing, including her brother.
“I hope and pray for my family to be let go and released,” Ms. Hoja said. 

“But I know even if that happens, they will still live under constant threat.”
A Chinese law student in Canada, Shawn Zhang, has compiled satellite images that show the scale of some of the detention centers.
In their demand last month, Mr. Rubio and other lawmakers urged officials at the State and Treasury Departments to impose sanctions on Chinese companies that have profited from building the camps or the regionwide surveillance system, which includes the collection of biometric and DNA data. They singled out Hikvision and Dahua Technology for the surveillance.
Mr. Rubio said the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, of which he is a chairman, will also ask the Commerce Department to prevent American companies from selling technology to China that could contribute to the surveillance and tracking.
Congressional lawmakers singled out Chen Quanguo, who became party chief of East Turkestan in 2016, for sanctions among seven Chinese officials.

For many years, Chinese officials have talked about the need to suppress what they call "terrorism", separatism and religious extremism in East Turkestan. 

In 2009, ethnic violence began soaring in the region. 

Security forces carried out mass repression in response, but large-scale construction of the camps, which now hold as many as one million people, did not begin until the arrival of Chen Quanguo, who became party chief of East Turkestan in August 2016, after a stint in the Tibet Autonomous Region.
The congressional demand, outlined in an Aug. 28 letter, singles out Mr. Chen among the seven Chinese officials who would be sanctioned.
In Washington, officials grappling with the plight of the Uighurs and other Chinese Muslims are doing so in the shadow of the mass murders, rapes and forced displacement of Rohingya Muslims by Burmese military forces that began in Myanmar in August 2017. 

More than 700,000 Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh and live in squalid camps.
American officials see the actions of the Chinese government as another form of the genocide that occurred in Myanmar, according to people with knowledge of the continuing discussions.
Sam Brownback, the State Department’s ambassador at large for international religious freedom and former governor of Kansas, supports taking a hard line against the Chinese government on the issue of East Turkestan, they said. 

Mr. Brownback declined to be interviewed.
In April, Laura Stone, an acting deputy assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs, told reporters on a visit to Beijing that the United States could impose sanctions on Chinese officials involved in the East Turkestan abuses under the Global Magnitsky Act. 

The law allows the American government to impose sanctions on specific foreign officials who are gross violators of human rights.
That same month, Heather Nauert, the chief spokeswoman for the State Department, called on China to release all those “unlawfully detained” after meeting in Washington with Ms. Hoja and five other ethnic Uighur journalists who work in the United States for Radio Free Asia. 

The journalists shared details of the mass detentions and of harassment of their own family members in the region.
The issue of the Uighurs was raised in July at the first international minister-level forum on global religious freedom, over which Mr. Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence presided. 

Ahead of it, Mr. Pompeo wrote an op-ed that listed the Uighurs among several groups suffering religious persecution. 

“These episodes and others like them are abhorrent,” he wrote.
In a statement to The Times, the State Department said officials “are deeply troubled by the Chinese government’s worsening crackdown” on Muslims.
“Credible reports indicate that individuals sent by Chinese authorities to detention centers since April 2017 number at least in the hundreds of thousands, and possibly millions,” the statement said.
The Trump administration has used an executive order tied to the Magnitsky Act once to impose sanctions on a Chinese official. 

In December, the White House announced sanctions against Gao Yan, who was a district police chief in Beijing when a human-rights activist died in detention.

Axis of Evil

On North Korea, China is taking away with one hand and giving with another

By Zheping Huang

You've got a friend: If the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold.

North Korea conducts roughly 90% of its trade with China. 

So when the Chinese customs agency released its August trade data earlier this week, people looked closely for signs of how much pressure Beijing is really applying on Pyongyang, following the United Nations’ harshest ever economic sanctions on the rogue regime.
The official data show that China’s trade with North Korea jumped in August to its highest level since December. 

A closer look at the breakdown of the August trade (which was released later on Sept. 26) shows a mixed picture of the bilateral relationship. 

The main takeaway: while China certainly appears to be limiting trade of some products with its troublesome neighbor, it’s also trying to keep the regime afloat.

Coal

In February, China banned imports of North Korean coal until the end of this year, in response to the UN’s earlier move in December to restrict North Korea’s coal trade. 

But coal shipments resumed in August when China purchased 1.6 million metric tons (1.8 million tons) of coal from North Korea, according to the data.
Last month, the UN Security Council unanimously passed new sanctions against North Korea that include a complete ban on coal exports. 

China’s latest purchase of North Korean coal came just before the sanctions went into effect on Sept. 5. 

Zhao Tong, a nuclear-policy specialist at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center in Beijing, read the move as China taking advantage of the window of opportunity to go a bit softer on North Korea. 

“China has decided to back away from an aggressive enforcement of sanctions, and apply a degree of pressure closer to the minimum requirements stipulated by UN resolutions,” Zhao told the Wall Street Journal (paywall).
A spokesman for the Chinese commerce ministry said today (Sept. 28) that China has "strictly" implemented UN sanctions on North Korea, which allowed for a buffer period for the coal ban.

Energy
Meanwhile, China’s gasoline exports to North Korea in August dropped 96% from a year ago to 180 metric tons (198 tons), according to customs data. 

Last week, China’s commerce ministry announced (link in Chinese) that the country would ban exports of condensate and liquefied natural gas to North Korea from Sept. 23, and cap exports of refined oil products from October. 

The moves are in line with the latest UN sanctions, which were approved earlier this month and aim to cut overall oil supply to North Korea by an estimated 30%.

Food
Things are very different when it comes to food. 

China’s corn shipments to North Korea surged 4,600% in August from a year earlier—with almost all of its corn exports going to North Korea—and wheat exports jumped more than 50 times in the same period, according to the data. 

The huge increase in food exports comes as North Korea suffers its worst drought in more than a decade, with tens of thousands of people facing severe food shortages, according to the UN. 

South Korea stopped sending aid to North Korea in response to the regime’s weapons program (though the current progressive government in Seoul recently announced it would provide $8 million in humanitarian aid to Pyongyang). 

China is quite literally a lifeline for North Korea.

Axis of Evil

Punish North Korea by sanctioning China
By James S. Robbins

Heavy machines move imported iron ore at the dock in Rizhao in eastern China's Shandong province. 

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results, then the United Nations has gone ’round the bend.
On Monday, the U.N. Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 2375, which imposed fresh sanctions on North Korea in response to that country’s September 3 nuclear test. 

President Trump, who had pushed for much starker sanctions, called the resolution “not a big deal.”
This was the 11th round of sanctions against Pyongyang in 11 years, with no change in the Kim dynasty’s behavior. 

At some point the international community will have to acknowledge that this approach has failed.
Part of the problem is that sanctions are not being vigorously enforced. 

For example, U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874, passed unanimously in 2009, authorized member states to inspect ships carrying suspicious North Korean cargo. 

The resolution did not expressly authorize the use of force but did compel member states to direct suspected vessels sailing under their flags to “proceed to an appropriate and convenient port for the required inspection.”
This provision has been enforced sparingly, and never by the United States. 

The Trump administration had circulated draft language expressly authorizing the use of “all necessary measures” to enforce compliance under the latest sanctions resolution, but this was not adopted.

Cheating is another critical issue. 

The day after the latest Security Council resolution was passed, U.S. Treasury officials gave a detailed briefing to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on how Chinese and Russian ships, among others, smuggle coal and other banned commodities in and out of North Korea. 

The smugglers’ modus operandi is for ship’s crew to turn off the transponders that track their movements when nearing North Korea, conduct their illicit business, then turn the transponders back on when clear of the country. 

These ships come and go from Russian and Chinese ports, where their manifests are apparently not closely inspected.

This activity underscores one of the economic laws that work against sanctions. 

The tighter the attempt to control trade, the more profit can potentially be made from breaking the sanctions cordon. 

Local officials with oversight over nearby ports cooperate for a cut of the profit, or with a wink from their superiors who have been told by higher-ups to let the smuggling continue. 

In essence, the United Nations has created an artificial market in which the cheaters win.
We saw the same dynamic in attempts to limit Saddam Hussein’s oil exports in the 1990s, which resulted in a billion-dollar annual smuggling operation.
A more promising avenue would be to go after North Korea’s enablers, like China and Russia. 

Since both countries are permanent members of the Security Council with veto power, they will not allow the United Nations to widen the scope of sanctions beyond North Korea. 

Indeed, Resolution 2375’s watered-down language was a result of Chinese and Russian opposition to the more robust proposal the United States put forward.
However, the United States can act unilaterally to increase the costs of dealing under the table with Pyongyang. 

Earlier this month Trump floated the idea of the United States “stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea.” 

This move could mean ending trade relationships with 100 countries around the world, hence was seen by some commentators as a bluff. 

Yet it was clearly aimed at China, which accounts for 85 percent of trade with North Korea, and is widely acknowledged as the sole country that is keeping Kim Jong Un afloat.
China angrily called Trump’s comment “unacceptable,” but Beijing should take the idea seriously. Previous U.S. presidents have been unwilling to link the U.S.-China trade relationship to the North Korean issue, but Trump has long been a critic of Beijing’s trade practices. 

Pushing for movement on North Korea while also criticizing China’s economic behavior is a win-win for the White House.
Trump said Tuesday that the latest sanctions “are nothing compared to what ultimately will have to happen.” 

As Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons become more powerful and its missiles range farther, the need for harsher measures becomes more acute. 

China and the other countries in Kim’s corner should understand that if they continue to aid and abet Pyongyang in its nuclear ambitions, they too will have to pay a price.

Idiotic President

Trump Said China Told Banks to Stop Dealing With North Korea. China Says That's Not True
Associated Press

BEIJING — Donald Trump's announcement that Beijing told its banks to stop dealing with North Korea is "not consistent with the facts," a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said Friday, but he gave no indication what steps China might be taking.
The spokesman, Lu Kang, said Beijing complies with U.N. Security Council resolutions. 

The council has told member countries to ban most activity abroad by North Korea's banks in response to its nuclear and missile tests.
Asked at a regular briefing about Trump's comment, Lu said, "As far as I know, what you have mentioned just now is not consistent with the facts."
Lu gave no explanation but added, "in principle, China has always implemented the U.N. Security Council's resolutions in their entirety and fulfilled our due responsibility."
China has warned against pushing the government of Kim Jong Un so hard it collapses.
China accounts for about 90 percent of North Korea's foreign trade. 

Beijing has cut off imports of coal, iron ore, seafood and other goods in line with U.N. sanctions.
Trump praised China on Thursday for what he said was instructions to its banks to cut off business with North Korea. 

He said the action "was a somewhat unexpected move and we appreciate it."
U.S. officials would not confirm that. 

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said he spoke at length with the head of China's central bank but "I am not going to comment on confidential discussions."
The Chinese central bank would not take questions by phone and did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.
Also Thursday, Trump issued an executive order expanding the Treasury Department's ability to target anyone conducting significant trade in goods, services or technology with North Korea and to ban them from the U.S. financial system.
It imposes a 180-day ban on vessels and aircraft that have visited North Korea from visiting the United States.
Trump announced the measures as he met the leaders of South Korea and Japan, the nations most immediately imperiled by North Korea's threats of a military strike.

Two-Face

China still helps to preserve North Korea’s government.
By Michael Schuman

Made with a big help from Chinese friends

BEIJING – In Donald Trump’s struggles to confront the escalating threat of North Korea’s nuclear program, one factor has always loomed large: China. 

Trump believes Beijing, Pyongyang’s chief ally, could take advantage of its political and economic clout to persuade North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong Un, to cease his threatening missile launches and curtail his nuclear ambitions. 

“China is very much the economic lifeline to North Korea so, while nothing is easy, if they want to solve the North Korean problem, they will,” he once tweeted.
China, though, insists its hands are tied. 

Trump, the Chinese claim, overestimates their ability to influence their unruly Stalinist neighbor. “The so-called ‘China responsibility theory’ is based on a poor understanding of the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, as well as baseless efforts to shift responsibility for the complicated problem onto China,” went one typical comment in a Communist Party newspaper in August.
Who’s right? 

It is true that the relationship between Beijing and Pyongyang can often be more strained and tempestuous than Trump seems to believe. 

But a look at North Korea’s economic relations with the world shows that China’s leaders clearly hold leverage over Pyongyang – perhaps even the power of life and death – if they choose to use it. 

“The Chinese government is the major supporter of the DPRK,” says Nicholas Eberstadt, a specialist in political economy at the American Enterprise Institute, using the acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. 

“The DPRK is such a dysfunctional economy that it requires a steady stream of subsidies from abroad to prevent it from going into vapor lock.”
Eberstadt’s statistics expose how, as he puts it, China is “the only game in town” for North Korea, at least when it comes to merchandise trade. 

In 2014, the latest year of data, China bought two-thirds of all of North Korea’s exports, worth $2.6 billion, and provided almost as large a share of the country imports, at $3.9 billion. 

More critically, China’s importance to North Korea has grown significantly during the past two decades, as Pyongyang’s economic ties to the rest of the world have withered (most notably, with Russia, which had been a major patron.) 

In 1990, China accounted for less than 6 percent of North Korea’s total exports and only 13 percent of its imports.
Those figures may not tell the entire story. 

Eberstadt says the relationship between China and North Korea is so opaque that it is difficult to understand the true extent of their economic exchange. 

North Korea doesn’t release economic data, and the official statistics from the Chinese government could understate the amount of their trade. 

For instance, China is almost certainly the largest provider of oil to North Korea, but that may not be reflected in Chinese data.
China’s trade with North Korea has also helped Pyongyang dodge United Nations sanctions, imposed by the Security Council to compel Kim Jong Un to the negotiating table. 

In a September report, a U.N.-sponsored panel of experts concluded that North Korea “continued to export prohibited commodities,” which helped the regime raise much-needed funds. 

By the panel’s count, Pyongyang earned $270 million from such illegal exports over a recent period of several months. 

China figures prominently in this trade by buying silver and other restricted commodities. 

For instance, China’s imports of iron and steel from North Korea reached $37 million – more than 80 percent of Pyongyang’s total sold abroad – during that time period.
China also helps North Korea evade sanctions that are supposed to block its access to the international banking system. 

Agents of North Korea, for example, are known to register companies in Hong Kong, set up offices in China and then utilize Chinese banks to conduct foreign financial transactions.
William Newcomb, a visiting scholar at the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, and a former deputy coordinator of the U.S. State Department’s North Korea Working Group, believes that Beijing could and should be taking sterner action against such illicit networks. 

“China has an extraordinarily good security service. I don’t believe for a minute that they don’t know who the North Koreans are and what they’re up to and who’s working with them but we don’t see any kind of follow-up.”
The Chinese do seem in recent months to have upped their efforts on sanctions against North Korea. The U.N. report shows that China’s trade with North Korea in certain areas has declined. 

Still, there appears to be a limit to how far Beijing is willing to go. 

China fears squeezing North Korea so hard that it leads to the country’s collapse, an outcome Beijing has traditionally wished to avoid. 

“It is true that for political and geographical reasons, China is the ‘economic lifeline of North Korea,’ but such economic aid, from a Chinese perspective, is necessary to maintain the stability of North Korea so as to avoid a ‘hard landing’ or even an ‘implosion,’” one commentary in the Communist Party-run Global Times explained.

That’s a big reason why economic sanctions may not bring Pyongyang to heel. 

Earlier this month, the U.N. Security Council agreed to impose the toughest measures yet against North Korea, including a ban on its lucrative textile exports, restrictions on the ability of North Koreans to work overseas, and a prohibition on any joint ventures with the country’s companies. 

In theory, these measures will cut Pyongyang off from billions of dollars of income. 

But in the end, their effectiveness will depend on how strictly China and other countries enforce them.
“Sanctions work a lot better if China and Russia get on board and are faithful in their implementation,” says Newcomb.
Washington continues to try to prod China in that direction. 

The U.S. Treasury Department recently announced sanctions on Chinese business for aiding the Pyongyang regime, and has threatened to take further measures. 

But it isn’t clear Beijing will succumb to such pressure from Trump.
“The Chinese have been OK with North Korea’s behavior as long as it is more a problem for the U.S. than China,” says AEI’s Eberstadt. 

“The question is how far does the cost-benefit analysis have to change for the Chinese approach to North Korea to change in an appreciable manner?”