Sunday, October 4, 2020
Good morning and welcome to the BBC’s live blog on the ongoing Korea crisis, bringing you all the latest news.
I’m Oliver Rosenbaum and I’ll be bringing you up to date with diplomatic developments for the next few hours.
It’s another day of acute tensions as the world awaits a formal response from China after Korea again reaffirmed support for the ongoing pro-Korea protests in China’s Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture. China has accused Korea and the United States of “fomenting dissent aimed at the destruction of the People’s Republic.” The protests are part of the wider so-called Chinese Autumn pro-democracy protests taking place across the country amid the global economic slowdown.
As China’s military build-up on the Korean border continues with an estimated 200,000 troops now deployed, the Russian defence minister Vladimir Sobolev has said he is “optimistic” that a Chinese incursion could be prevented.
Sobolev, who is due to meet his Chinese counterpart Li Qing in the coming days, told the BBC he was “more optimistic than not” that an invasion could be stopped. Russia has walked a difficult tightrope throughout the crisis as it tries not to antagonise its vital Chinese trading partner while remaining on the same diplomatic page as its fellow EU members.
He was speaking after the US reaffirmed Korea’s right to offer political asylum to Chinese-Korean dissidents. China has severely limited air traffic to Korea from the Yanbian prefecture in an effort to prevent what Beijing calls “terrorists” from seeking refuge.
Yesterday the US State Department warned that the economic and political relationship between the United States and China will be “devastated” if China attacks Korea.
Japan’s ambassador to Washington, Hirokazu Kishimoto, appeared to endorse this position, citing previous comments from Japanese prime minister Toshio Ino and foreign minister Sawato Inaba that “nothing will be off the table.” He refused to confirm or deny that a partial mobilisation of the Japanese Self-Defence Forces was imminent.
The US yesterday delivered a written response to Beijing’s maximalist demands from last month, which called for Korea to legally enshrine neutrality in its constitution and the withdrawal of American forces from the peninsula.
Chinese Chairman Zhang Lin was due to be briefed on the document, but his foreign minister has already given a big hint of the Chinese response. Chi Zemin said:
“If the United States and the Republic of Korea continue their aggressive course, Beijing is prepared to take any necessary retaliatory measures. We won’t allow our constructive efforts to be drowned by endless deflection.”
Approximately 20,000 American troops are stationed in Korea. Under the terms of the 1997 Sino-American Security Declaration they are not permitted within one hundred miles of the Chinese border. Nonetheless if hostilities were to break out it is certain that the American forces would be directly involved. Fears of an escalation towards nuclear conflict have regularly been raised internationally.
Meanwhile, Korean police are searching for a woman believed to have been a Chinese intelligence agent within the Korean defence ministry who stabbed two security guards before fleeing. The incident took place early this morning at the Ministry of National Defence headquarters in Seoul’s Yongsan district. It is not clear what the exact circumstances of the incident are.
...
Please leave a comment!
Good morning and welcome to the BBC’s live blog on the ongoing Korea crisis, bringing you all the latest news.
I’m Oliver Rosenbaum and I’ll be bringing you up to date with diplomatic developments for the next few hours.
It’s another day of acute tensions as the world awaits a formal response from China after Korea again reaffirmed support for the ongoing pro-Korea protests in China’s Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture. China has accused Korea and the United States of “fomenting dissent aimed at the destruction of the People’s Republic.” The protests are part of the wider so-called Chinese Autumn pro-democracy protests taking place across the country amid the global economic slowdown.
As China’s military build-up on the Korean border continues with an estimated 200,000 troops now deployed, the Russian defence minister Vladimir Sobolev has said he is “optimistic” that a Chinese incursion could be prevented.
Sobolev, who is due to meet his Chinese counterpart Li Qing in the coming days, told the BBC he was “more optimistic than not” that an invasion could be stopped. Russia has walked a difficult tightrope throughout the crisis as it tries not to antagonise its vital Chinese trading partner while remaining on the same diplomatic page as its fellow EU members.
He was speaking after the US reaffirmed Korea’s right to offer political asylum to Chinese-Korean dissidents. China has severely limited air traffic to Korea from the Yanbian prefecture in an effort to prevent what Beijing calls “terrorists” from seeking refuge.
Yesterday the US State Department warned that the economic and political relationship between the United States and China will be “devastated” if China attacks Korea.
Japan’s ambassador to Washington, Hirokazu Kishimoto, appeared to endorse this position, citing previous comments from Japanese prime minister Toshio Ino and foreign minister Sawato Inaba that “nothing will be off the table.” He refused to confirm or deny that a partial mobilisation of the Japanese Self-Defence Forces was imminent.
The US yesterday delivered a written response to Beijing’s maximalist demands from last month, which called for Korea to legally enshrine neutrality in its constitution and the withdrawal of American forces from the peninsula.
Chinese Chairman Zhang Lin was due to be briefed on the document, but his foreign minister has already given a big hint of the Chinese response. Chi Zemin said:
“If the United States and the Republic of Korea continue their aggressive course, Beijing is prepared to take any necessary retaliatory measures. We won’t allow our constructive efforts to be drowned by endless deflection.”
Approximately 20,000 American troops are stationed in Korea. Under the terms of the 1997 Sino-American Security Declaration they are not permitted within one hundred miles of the Chinese border. Nonetheless if hostilities were to break out it is certain that the American forces would be directly involved. Fears of an escalation towards nuclear conflict have regularly been raised internationally.
Meanwhile, Korean police are searching for a woman believed to have been a Chinese intelligence agent within the Korean defence ministry who stabbed two security guards before fleeing. The incident took place early this morning at the Ministry of National Defence headquarters in Seoul’s Yongsan district. It is not clear what the exact circumstances of the incident are.
...
Please leave a comment!
Last edited:
