#China and #Solomon Islands Draft Secret #SecurityPact, Raising Alarm in the Pacific
//A leaked document has revealed that China and the Solomon Islands are close to signing a security agreement that could open the door to Chinese troops and naval warships flowing into a Pacific Island nation that played a pivotal role in World War II.
The agreement, kept secret until now, was shared online Thursday night by opponents of the deal and verified as legitimate by the Australian government...
it has set off alarms throughout the Pacific, where concerns about China’s intentions have been growing for years.
“This is deeply problematic for the United States and a real cause of concern for our allies and partners,” Charles Edel, the inaugural Australia chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said on Friday.
“The establishment of a base in the Solomon Islands by a strategic adversary would significantly degrade Australia and New Zealand’s security, increase the chances of local corruption and heighten the chances of resource exploitation.”
The leaked document states that “Solomon Islands may, according to its own needs, request China to send police, armed police, military personnel and other law enforcement and armed forces to Solomon Islands to assist in maintaining social order, protecting people’s lives and property.”//
Read the full article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/24/world/asia/china-solomon-islands-security-pact.html
Source: New York Times #Mar24
#Security #InternationalRelations #FiveEyes #Australia #Defense #Pacific #WW2
//A leaked document has revealed that China and the Solomon Islands are close to signing a security agreement that could open the door to Chinese troops and naval warships flowing into a Pacific Island nation that played a pivotal role in World War II.
The agreement, kept secret until now, was shared online Thursday night by opponents of the deal and verified as legitimate by the Australian government...
it has set off alarms throughout the Pacific, where concerns about China’s intentions have been growing for years.
“This is deeply problematic for the United States and a real cause of concern for our allies and partners,” Charles Edel, the inaugural Australia chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said on Friday.
“The establishment of a base in the Solomon Islands by a strategic adversary would significantly degrade Australia and New Zealand’s security, increase the chances of local corruption and heighten the chances of resource exploitation.”
The leaked document states that “Solomon Islands may, according to its own needs, request China to send police, armed police, military personnel and other law enforcement and armed forces to Solomon Islands to assist in maintaining social order, protecting people’s lives and property.”//
Read the full article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/24/world/asia/china-solomon-islands-security-pact.html
Source: New York Times #Mar24
#Security #InternationalRelations #FiveEyes #Australia #Defense #Pacific #WW2
Nytimes
China and Solomon Islands Draft Secret Security Pact, Raising Alarm in the Pacific (Published 2022)
The leaked agreement, if signed, could help the Chinese Navy block shipping routes that played a vital role in World War II.
#InternationalRelations
#SouthKorea’s Intelligence Agency Has Joined NATO’s Cyber Defense Unit; #China Isn’t Happy
Source: Time #May6
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#SouthKorea’s Intelligence Agency Has Joined NATO’s Cyber Defense Unit; #China Isn’t Happy
Source: Time #May6
Read more
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#InternationalRelations
#SouthKorea’s Intelligence Agency Has Joined NATO’s Cyber Defense Unit; #China Isn’t Happy
//On Thursday, May 5, 2022, South Korea’s spy agency became the first in Asia to join #NATO’s Cyber Defense Group in a move that risks inflaming tensions with regional superpower China.
In response, #HuXiJin, the strident editor of Chinese Communist Party (#CCP) mouthpiece The #GlobalTimes, tweeted that the move was an affront to Beijing and even lays the groundwork for war in Asia. “If South Korea takes a path of turning hostile against its neighbors, the end of this path could be a #Ukraine,” he wrote.
Despite hosting some of the world’s top tech companies, like #LG and #Samsung, South Korea has been a surprising laggard regarding cybercrime and only launched a National Cybersecurity Strategy under the #MoonJaeIn administration in 2018.
This is despite South Korea being the principle target of increasingly frequent cyberattacks from across the DMZ. A crack squad of 6,800 North Korean agents are engaged in fraud, blackmail and online gambling that together generate some $860 million annually, according to the Korea Institute of Liberal Democracy in Seoul. Many attacks originate from inside China.//
Source: Time #May6
#Cyberattack #Seoul #Beijing #ChinaThreat
#SouthKorea’s Intelligence Agency Has Joined NATO’s Cyber Defense Unit; #China Isn’t Happy
//On Thursday, May 5, 2022, South Korea’s spy agency became the first in Asia to join #NATO’s Cyber Defense Group in a move that risks inflaming tensions with regional superpower China.
In response, #HuXiJin, the strident editor of Chinese Communist Party (#CCP) mouthpiece The #GlobalTimes, tweeted that the move was an affront to Beijing and even lays the groundwork for war in Asia. “If South Korea takes a path of turning hostile against its neighbors, the end of this path could be a #Ukraine,” he wrote.
Despite hosting some of the world’s top tech companies, like #LG and #Samsung, South Korea has been a surprising laggard regarding cybercrime and only launched a National Cybersecurity Strategy under the #MoonJaeIn administration in 2018.
This is despite South Korea being the principle target of increasingly frequent cyberattacks from across the DMZ. A crack squad of 6,800 North Korean agents are engaged in fraud, blackmail and online gambling that together generate some $860 million annually, according to the Korea Institute of Liberal Democracy in Seoul. Many attacks originate from inside China.//
Source: Time #May6
#Cyberattack #Seoul #Beijing #ChinaThreat
Chinese ambassador #XiaoQian interrupted by multiple protesters during speech at University of Technology Sydney
//China's ambassador Xiao Qian has echoed calls for "concrete action" to "reset" the relationship with Australia in a speech that was repeatedly disrupted by a series of coordinated protests.
But several protesters interjected during Mr Xiao's address.
One described Mr Xiao as a "representative of a dictatorship" and accused the Chinese government of committing genocide against the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.
He was ushered out by security guards.
One man was asked to leave the venue prior to the event because he was dressed in a Cultural Revolution-era military costume that security described as "confronting".
Another protester held a sign reading "Free Tibet", and other stood up and declared they were a Uyghur and not a terrorist.
Yet another was escorted out after standing up and criticising China's censorship, saying people in Hong Kong and Tibet were unable to express their views freely...
Professor James Laurenceson, director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney, asked Mr Xiao a number of questions that were provided to the embassy before the event.
He asked Mr Xiao if he could provide any hope for the families of detained Australians Cheng Lei and Yang Hengjun, or for Uyghurs in Australia who have been unable to contact loved ones in Xinjiang for years.
"With all my respect for you… I do disagree with you," Mr Xiao said.
"Freedom of speech is different from absolute freedom. In this world, there's no such thing as absolute freedom. Freedom is freedom within rule of law.
"These are individual cases and the relevant authorities are dealing with these cases according to Chinese rules or regulations.
"So long as they respect the rules and laws, there's no reason for them to worry," the Chinese ambassador said.//
Source: ABC #Jun23
#InternationalRelations #Australia #ChineseAmbassador
//China's ambassador Xiao Qian has echoed calls for "concrete action" to "reset" the relationship with Australia in a speech that was repeatedly disrupted by a series of coordinated protests.
But several protesters interjected during Mr Xiao's address.
One described Mr Xiao as a "representative of a dictatorship" and accused the Chinese government of committing genocide against the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.
He was ushered out by security guards.
One man was asked to leave the venue prior to the event because he was dressed in a Cultural Revolution-era military costume that security described as "confronting".
Another protester held a sign reading "Free Tibet", and other stood up and declared they were a Uyghur and not a terrorist.
Yet another was escorted out after standing up and criticising China's censorship, saying people in Hong Kong and Tibet were unable to express their views freely...
Professor James Laurenceson, director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney, asked Mr Xiao a number of questions that were provided to the embassy before the event.
He asked Mr Xiao if he could provide any hope for the families of detained Australians Cheng Lei and Yang Hengjun, or for Uyghurs in Australia who have been unable to contact loved ones in Xinjiang for years.
"With all my respect for you… I do disagree with you," Mr Xiao said.
"Freedom of speech is different from absolute freedom. In this world, there's no such thing as absolute freedom. Freedom is freedom within rule of law.
"These are individual cases and the relevant authorities are dealing with these cases according to Chinese rules or regulations.
"So long as they respect the rules and laws, there's no reason for them to worry," the Chinese ambassador said.//
Source: ABC #Jun23
#InternationalRelations #Australia #ChineseAmbassador
The Countries Most In Debt To China
//Countries heavily in debt to China are mostly located in Africa, but can also be found in Central Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, data from The World Bank shows. China is currently the preferred lender to the world’s low-income countries, which owe 37% of their debt to China in 2022, compared to just 24% in bilateral debt to the rest of the world...
The Chinese "New Silk Road" project, a program to finance the construction of port, rail and land infrastructure across the globe, has been a major source of debt to China for participating countries. At the end of 2020, of the 97 countries for which data was available, those with the highest external debt to China were all involved in the project, namely Pakistan ($77.3 billion of external debt to China), Angola (36.3 billion), Ethiopia (7.9 billion), Kenya (7.4 billion) and Sri Lanka (6.8 billion)...
The idea that China could gain significant leverage over countries and their infrastructure in the case of repayment issues has been cited often, like in the case of a troubled Sri Lankan port that was built with Chinese funds and that China ultimately took a 70% stake in. The Laotian railway that has been burdening the country with debt is also 70% Chinese-owned.//
Read more:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/katharinabuchholz/2022/08/19/the-countries-most-in-debt-to-china-infographic/
Source: Forbes #Aug19
#Debt #RiseofChina #WorldEconomy #InternationalRelations
//Countries heavily in debt to China are mostly located in Africa, but can also be found in Central Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, data from The World Bank shows. China is currently the preferred lender to the world’s low-income countries, which owe 37% of their debt to China in 2022, compared to just 24% in bilateral debt to the rest of the world...
The Chinese "New Silk Road" project, a program to finance the construction of port, rail and land infrastructure across the globe, has been a major source of debt to China for participating countries. At the end of 2020, of the 97 countries for which data was available, those with the highest external debt to China were all involved in the project, namely Pakistan ($77.3 billion of external debt to China), Angola (36.3 billion), Ethiopia (7.9 billion), Kenya (7.4 billion) and Sri Lanka (6.8 billion)...
The idea that China could gain significant leverage over countries and their infrastructure in the case of repayment issues has been cited often, like in the case of a troubled Sri Lankan port that was built with Chinese funds and that China ultimately took a 70% stake in. The Laotian railway that has been burdening the country with debt is also 70% Chinese-owned.//
Read more:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/katharinabuchholz/2022/08/19/the-countries-most-in-debt-to-china-infographic/
Source: Forbes #Aug19
#Debt #RiseofChina #WorldEconomy #InternationalRelations
Forbes
The Countries Most In Debt To China [Infographic]
Chinese loans to developing nations—affecting many in Africa, Asia and the Pacific—have high interest rates and short repayment windows. These "commercial-style" loans are harder to repay and less transparent than other bilateral loans, while questions of…