China Not N.Korea's Savior, Ex-General Says

A retired Chinese general says Beijing will not step in to save ally North Korea if the regime collapses or incites a war.

"China is not a savior," wrote Wang Hongguang, a former general at a military base in Nanjing in the official Global Times. "Should North Korea really collapse, not even China can save it."

It is rare for such a senior Chinese figure to publicly distance the country from the North.

"China cannot influence the situation on the Korean Peninsula," Wang said. It "has no need to light a fire and get burnt. Whoever provokes a conflagration bears responsibility."

Wang explained that a North Korean regime collapse now would impact only Northeast Asia. The North is no longer in the care of China, and there can be no fear of Pyongyang aligning itself with another superpower should Beijing abandon it, he added.

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Korea 'Caught in Tug-of-War Between U.S., China'

U.S. officials are worried that Korea and China are getting too close, but the high-wire diplomacy required of Seoul also offers opportunities, the Wall Street Journal said Wednesday.

An article on the front page headlined "South Korea Looks to Propser in China While Staying Close to U.S.," it says Seoul is now "into a diplomatic balancing act" between the U.S. and China.

The daily cited diplomatic conflict over the U.S. missile defense program as a prominent example. "The U.S. is portraying the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery as a deterrent against North Korea, a nuclear-armed rogue state. South Korea, though, hasn't publicly supported the deployment, aware that Beijing, Pyongyang's patron, opposes it."

A free trade agreement Seoul and Beijing signed recently is "a cornerstone of the new friendship." But South Korea "isn't formally part of the talks the U.S. is pushing" for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, "in part because they exclude China."

"Sometimes it's very difficult for the Korean government to choose a policy," the daily quoted Deputy Finance Minister Jeong Eun-bo as saying.

The improvement in bilateral relations is reflected in South Korea's increasing investment in China, export volumes and number of students studying there.

"South Korean businesses poured $3.2 billion into China-based factories through end-September, up a third on the previous year... Last year, China accounted for a quarter of South Korea's $560 billion in total exports," the daily wrote. "Today, there are almost as many South Korean students enrolled at colleges in China as in the U.S."

In contrast, "the U.S. share stood at 11 percent, down from around 40 percent in the 1980s," it added.

"The Korean slant toward China is viewed by some as reducing the influence of America here," the daily quoted Jeffrey Jones, an American lawyer at Kim & Chang, a Seoul-based law firm, as saying.

But South Korea is also irritating China in the security sector. "China is our single most important economic partner. But we can’t weaken U.S. security ties," it quoted an official as saying.

When China announced an air defense identification zone over the East China Sea, South Korea stood up to it by expanding its own air defense zone. And South Korea agreed to sell the Philippines, which is in a territorial dispute with China, FA-50 fighter jets.

But South Korea could turn this tug-of-war between the bigger powers to its own advantage, the daily added.

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Korea 'Caught in Tug-of-War Between U.S., China'

U.S. officials are worried that Korea and China are getting too close, but the high-wire diplomacy required of Seoul also offers opportunities, the Wall Street Journal said Wednesday.

An article on the front page headlined "South Korea Looks to Propser in China While Staying Close to U.S.," it says Seoul is now "into a diplomatic balancing act" between the U.S. and China.

The daily cited diplomatic conflict over the U.S. missile defense program as a prominent example. "The U.S. is portraying the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery as a deterrent against North Korea, a nuclear-armed rogue state. South Korea, though, hasn't publicly supported the deployment, aware that Beijing, Pyongyang's patron, opposes it."

A free trade agreement Seoul and Beijing signed recently is "a cornerstone of the new friendship." But South Korea "isn't formally part of the talks the U.S. is pushing" for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, "in part because they exclude China."

"Sometimes it's very difficult for the Korean government to choose a policy," the daily quoted Deputy Finance Minister Jeong Eun-bo as saying.

The improvement in bilateral relations is reflected in South Korea’s increasing investment in China, export volumes and number of students studying there.

"South Korean businesses poured $3.2 billion into China-based factories through end-September, up a third on the previous year... Last year, China accounted for a quarter of South Korea's $560 billion in total exports," the daily wrote. "Today, there are almost as many South Korean students enrolled at colleges in China as in the U.S."

In contrast, "the U.S. share stood at 11 percent, down from around 40 percent in the 1980s," it added.

"The Korean slant toward China is viewed by some as reducing the influence of America here," the daily quoted Jeffrey Jones, an American lawyer at Kim & Chang, a Seoul-based law firm, as saying.

But South Korea is also irritating China in the security sector. "China is our single most important economic partner. But we can’t weaken U.S. security ties," it quoted an official as saying.

When China announced an air defense identification zone over the East China Sea, South Korea stood up to it by expanding its own air defense zone. And South Korea agreed to sell the Philippines, which is in a territorial dispute with China, FA-50 fighter jets.

But South Korea could turn this tug-of-war between the bigger powers to its own advantage, the daily added.

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China Considers Suing 'Economic Fugitives' in U.S.

China is considering suing people suspected of committing economic crimes who have fled to the United States and elsewhere with billions of dollars, an unusual step in a widening anti-graft campaign, a senior official said on Wednesday.

The move, part of Chinese President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption drive, underscores the challenges China faces in seeking the return of so-called economic fugitives.

Xu Hong, director general of the Foreign Ministry's Department of Treaty and Law, said China tried to persuade the United States to sign an extradition treaty but Washington said it was "not ready."

"So in this case, we can only think of other alternative methods," Xu told a news conference. "One way is to repatriate the relevant suspects through the mechanism of illegal immigration, the other way is to prosecute them in the United States, so the suspects can be tried under U.S. law."

The Washington-based Global Financial Integrity Group, which analyzes illicit financial flows, estimates that $1.08 trillion left China illegally from 2002 to 2011.

China said earlier this month it had captured 288 fugitives suspected of committing economic crimes in its campaign, called Operation Fox Hunt.

Xu said some judges in Western countries, such as the United States and Canada, harbored "prejudice" about China's legal system and were reluctant to return officials and executives suspected of corruption.

Western governments have balked at setting up extradition deals with China because human rights groups say torture is often used by Chinese legal authorities, and capital punishment is widely used in corruption cases.

China has extradition treaties with 39 countries but not the United States or Canada -- among the two most popular destinations for suspected economic fugitives, according to Xu.

Xu said the legal process for the repatriation of such people from the United States, Canada and elsewhere is "cumbersome and lengthy."

"So long as the person who has been asked to be repatriated can afford it, he or she can engage in endless litigation and repeated appeals," he said.

The government would not make agreements with corrupt suspects for their return to China, Xu said, although they would face lighter punishments in exchange for their surrender.

"China's judiciary and law enforcement agencies will not do business with these fugitives," Xu said. "We will work within the scope of the law."

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Laneige Cosmetics Most Recognizable Korean Brand in China

Laneige, a Korean cosmetic brand by Amore Pacific, beat out competitors for brand awareness about Korean products among Chinese consumers, according to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency.

Some 12.2 percent of 2,194 respondents in a survey in 10 major Chinese cities picked Laneige.

Six out of the 10 most recognized Korean brands were popular cosmetics, with Mamonde and Sulwhasoo, two more Amore Pacific brands, in fourth and fifth place, The Faceshop in sixth place, Etude in eighth place and Charmzone in ninth place.

Korean products were mostly praised for their quality.

Just behind Laneige was Hyundai Motor in second place. Samsung Electronics mobile phones came in third.

Lock & Lock containers came in seventh place, and Nongshim, Korea's largest processed food manufacturer, ranked 10th.

Cosmetics are also the most popular item among Chinese tourists visiting Korea, according to the survey, followed by clothes, fashion accessories, processed food and health food.

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'Roaring Currents' to Open in China on Nanjing Massacre Day

Chinese officials have pushed back the release in China of the Korean costume epic "Roaring Currents" to Dec. 12, the anniversary of the Nanjing massacre by Japanese soldiers during World War II.

The film, a rousing account of the astonishing victory over Japanese invaders by Admiral Yi Sun-shin, will open at 3,000 theaters across China on the eve of the anniversary, which is to be celebrated as a national holiday from this year.

Distributor CJ China on Tuesday said the subject of the film and the state of China-Japan relations made a late-November release date seem more appropriate, but Chinese officials wanted to push the date back.

Industry sources say Chinese officials may be hoping that moviegoers will be able to gain some sense of vindication in the face of Japanese atrocities by watching "Roaring Currents."

Chinese media reported the premiere date has changed to coincide with the start of school vacation.

"Roaring Currents" is the biggest blockbuster in Korean cinema history and drew more than 17 million viewers.

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China Says Controls on Internet Needed to Maintain Stability

Chinese officials called on Wednesday for controls on the Internet to preserve stability, saying its model for cyberspace regulation can be the framework for spawning commercial successes like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

The comments, made at the start of the World Internet Conference, show China is unlikely to loosen its tight grip on the medium even as it has begun a transformation of its economic model.

"This place is crowded with tourists, who are perfectly orderly, and cyberspace should also be free and open, with rules to follow and always following the rule of law," Lu Wei, China's Internet chief and director of the State Internet Information Office, said at the conference.

Lu was referring to China's eastern tourist town of Wuzhen, roughly 75 miles from Shanghai, which is hosting the three-day conference.

Alibaba Group Executive Chairman Jack Ma speaks at the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen township, Zhejiang province on Nov. 19, 2014. /Reuters

Among those attending the conference were executives from Apple Inc, Facebook Inc, LinkedIn Corp, IBM Corp, Microsoft Corp, Qualcomm Inc , SoftBank Corp, Cisco Systems Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Nokia, Intel Corp and Thomson Reuters Corp.

They already got a taste of China's intent when on Tuesday the Chinese government blocked access to a swathe of websites in what an Internet monitoring group said was a blunt censorship campaign.

With a population of 1.4 billion and 632 million people online, China is a market no one wants to miss out on. But it also has the world's most sophisticated online censorship system, known outside the country as the Great Firewall.

It blocks many social media services, such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat and Google, along with many rights groups sites and some foreign media agencies.

China's own Internet firms have seen huge success on their home turf. Alibaba, which made a record-breaking $25 billion listing in New York earlier this year, Tencent Holdings Ltd and Baidu Inc are together worth more than $500 billion in market capitalization. All three of China's biggest Internet companies were in attendance at the conference.

"The Internet is a double-edged sword," said State Council Vice Premier Ma Kai at the conference.

"Well used, it's Alibaba's treasure. Poorly used, it's Pandora's box. Cyber security is a shared challenge faced by human society. Effectively dealing with it is a shared responsibility for all governments," said Ma.

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