East Asia News & Politics Thread: China, South Korea, Japan...

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41003405

Old news, but Dresnok is now dead. Which means all those who previously "defected" to Pyongyang are now dead. His sons are still active within the KPA. Their photo is in the article.

Well, that was definitely surreal.

They switched to a Two-Child Policy during the last couple of years, didn't they?

Last year, yes.

Which means that nearly all of the young adults in the military are the only children of their families. If they die, that's it. Family line is extinct.

Not exactly ideal social conditions to hold a D-Day reenactment against a prepared enemy.

Especially when the status quo is working fine for Beijing vis a vis Taiwan. They aren't a threat and provide a good enemy for propaganda.

One of the issues with Tsai's administration is that she's bucking that status quo without much in the way of a proper plan. She's poking a beehive with a stick that's too short for the job. Phone call to Trump, anyone? All that money, all that effort spent on a call to Trump, and what has Taiwan gotten for it? Nothing but an annoyed CCP.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20171211_28/

Manila's having a comfort women statue and the embassy is already protesting its presence...

There's an incident in Okinawa where an elementary school student was injured by a falling object. People on the ground are making suggestions of an American military aircraft.

edited 12th Dec '17 6:30:42 PM by Ominae

Decades later and the years of indoctrination by the military government still linger. Of course, some of it goes even further back than that.

The echoes of Imperial Japan...

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20171213_26/

Update on the Okinawa incident. Looks like a CH-53 window may be the culprit.

I beg to differ. Tsai's policies has surely pissed in in the CCP's morning bowl of doujan, but that's the guaranteed side effect of having a DPP administration in power. Foreign policy victories have been achieved in securing trade agreements with Southeast Asian countries leery of Xi's Belt & Road programs, while the US has committed itself to not only providing a massive arms package, but also allowing joint interaction between US and ROC forces - which Trump has quietly signed off on.

Edit: During its island hopping campaign in World War II, the US military was divided between whether to pour forces into the Western Pacific for an invasion of the Phillipines, or move upwards from Australia to secure the ultimate goal of Taiwan (then Formusa).

The Philippines faction was led by army general Mac Arthur, who believed that the US had a moral obligation to retake its former colony and that the presence of local resistance forces would make securing the isles easier. The Formusa faction was led by Admiral Nimitz, who argued that focusing on the Phillipines on a moral ground would only play directly into the expectations of Japanese strategists, and that the isles were geographically large but lacked any meaningful strategic resources to compensate for the extended period of time needed to secure them.

Nimitz and his supporters saw Taiwan as an excellent unsinkable aircraft carrier that could be used to project US power into China and the coasts of Japan if secured, and wanted to launch an overland campaign from the Chinese coast that would link up with Chinese Nationalist advances from Southeast Asia if possible. Furthermore, securing Taiwan would also place the US in a position to directly support the Nationalists in a future conflict against the Communists based up north, what with long-range bombers based in Taiwan being able to fly sorties across both the Sea of Japan and the North China Plain.

In the end, Nimitzs' Operation Causeway was canceled following an extended study revealing that Taiwan not only possessed extremely few sandy beaches appropriate for landing operations (the entire eastern coastline is rocky cliffs), but also countless fallback positions and ideal defensive lines in the central mountain ranges that would be garrisoned by one of the largest Japanese armies outside Japan proper and a hugely loyal native populace.

edited 12th Dec '17 8:37:36 PM by FluffyMcChicken

OTOH, Panama ditched Taiwan in favor of the CCP.

Tsai's got a few more years to prove the electorate's faith in her was not misplaced. Personally, I think her first year was just...disappointing. Maybe that's due to genuine incompetence, maybe that's due to having too high expectations of her. I guess we'll see.

In all honesty, recognizing the ROC or not is largely a symbolic gesture that only prevents a state from trading with the PRC. Many of the foreign policy victories Tsai has scored have been with China-friendly countries such as Malaysia and the Phillipines, who address the ROC as Chinese Taipei.

My only hope now is that she somehow manages to get her approval ratings up enough so that the KMT don't get sweeping victories in the next round of elections.

As bad as I still think she is, I still prefer her to the KMT.

Although I like a lot of aspects of the KMT today, their attempts to still defend or downplay the White Terror despite the official apology is very irritating.

Plus, it turns out they still have corruption and graft issues. Some things never change.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20171213_40/

The JSDF is evacuating its own nationals in case of civil unrest or a volatile event during an exercise. Their Bushmasters were used in the op. Foreign Ministry personnel joined in.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20171214_11/

The JSDF allowed media to go around its base in Djibouti.

An article on the very authoritarian - almost totalitarian - way Xinjiang is being run at the moment:

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3322466

edited 17th Dec '17 9:18:23 PM by TheWildWestPyro

That last photo pointing out the billboards with the word "Democracy" on it are just the cherry on the shit sundae. What a sick joke.

edited 17th Dec '17 9:22:25 PM by M84

Considering they also harvest organs from prisoners, that biometric data can have even more sinister purposes as well.

Meanwhile, China’s Air Force Holds Drills Near Japan, South Korea and Taiwan

edited 18th Dec '17 10:45:55 AM by TerminusEst

At this point, I think that its appropriate to say that the Uighur members of ISIS are easily the most sympathetic foreign volunteer group within what is undoubtedly still a heinous terrorist organization. Unlike the European Arabs or Russian Chechens, they really have a just and understandable motivation to join a group like ISIS in the name of fighting Islam's oppressors and whatnot.

They won't get any sympathy from me. ISIS regularly kills any Muslim from different sects than them (there goes the pretense of fighting for Islam) and if they really wanted to stand up to the CCP, I don't see how abetting slavery of women in the Middle East helps at all.

There was also the whole case of the CCP demolishing Tibetan monks' houses in the name of progress and development. :(

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-36863888

edited 18th Dec '17 11:59:19 AM by TheWildWestPyro

The difference is that ISIS and the terrorists in the Uighur populated regions are on the verge of getting crushed (although by different forces) whereas the likes of CCP (epitome of hypocrisy) and DPRK are still getting off scot-free.

edited 18th Dec '17 12:14:20 PM by Trivialis

With the sheer power and excellent surveillance the PRC has, I doubt that anything that can be accomplished. Practically all human rights lawyers and activists are imprisoned, and most of the populace know the government's power too well to speak out. They aren't all apathetic, many do sympathize, but they know their entire lives are screwed if they speak out.

North Korea may have a large but badly-equipped military, a largely unsuccessful nuclear program that has bankrupted the nation, and gets what it wants by macho posturing. But they're getting off scot-free because they've perfected Orwellianism in their society so much that nobody can do any resistance without getting tracked down, captured and killed.

Personally, I have mixed feelings on the Uyghurs fighting for ISIS. On the one hand, they are truly fighting against severe oppression of their people. On the other hand, religious extremism of any kind is something I'll never condone, while ISIS's tactics are sickening enough already.

edited 18th Dec '17 12:19:35 PM by TheWildWestPyro